MLP Loops
by Saphroneth
Summary: Twilight Sparkle has been here before. In fact, she's been here so often she's thoroughly bored. Time Loop stories for Equestria.
1. Chapter 1

1

* * *

Twilight sighed.

She was stuck in some kind of time loop. By now, the evidence was incontrovertible – despite what everything she knew about magic, even time magic, said.

Every time the loop reset, she was right back here in the Canterlot library, just before trying to warn Celestia about the return of Nightmare Moon. It had taken her three loops to determine, experimentally, that nothing from one loop was carried over into the next.

Except her memories.

"Well," she said, brightly, "If there was a better opportunity for study, I've never encountered it before. Spike! A book, please! Which doesn't matter."

* * *

2

* * *

Nightmare Moon spread her wings, laughing as the inhabitants of Ponyville panicked. "The night will last forever!"

After a moment, she noticed something on her left wing. A small red dot of light, that was moving towards her body proper even as she watched.

* * *

A huge blast of rainbow hit Luna's alternate form, as Rainbow Dash broke the sound barrier right before impact.

Turned out that Dash didn't actually channel harmony itself when she did that. But on seeing a thoroughly concussed Alicorn collapse to the floor, Twilight considered it at least progress.

* * *

3

* * *

Another loop, another Summer Sun celebration.

It was sort of cruel, beating up Luna like she was. But then, so far she'd been grateful for being freed from the darkness every time, no matter how strange the method Twilight used.

This was shaping up to be an exceptional one, though.

"Ooh! And that's definitely an uppercut she'll feel in the morning!" Pinkie shouted, from the balloon floating over what was left of Ponyville.

"But Black Sooty comes back with a bolt of pure night, and – no, it's splashed off his scales!"

AJ shook her head as she adjusted the camera. "Gotta say, Twilight, this ain't what ah was expectin' to be the reason y'all asked for extra apples."

Twilight shrugged. "Dragons like Spike undergo an exceptional growth phase when their hoard is in danger. I was able to get him into the frame of mind with the apples and a load of other stuff, then when Nightmare Moon turned up I told him Rarity would be in danger if her plan went through, and, well…"

Pinkie spread her forelegs. "Spikezilla versus Nightmare Moon! Round 1! Fight!"

Spike spat out a blast of flame that turned the arrested dawn into daylight.

* * *

4

* * *

"um… excuse me, miss nightmare, but, uh… do you want some tea?"

Twilight watched in disbelief as Luna's corruption flowed off of her like water and dissipated. "To think it took me this long to try Fluttershy…"

* * *

5

* * *

Sombra, now, was more amusing. While she came at Nightmare Moon with barely a day's prep time each new Loop, she could have as much as a year and a half when the Crystal Empire situation came up.

Her former number one method had just been getting Rainbow to hit him at half again the speed of sound after loudly praying for divine intervention. The look on Sombra's face for the split second before he bounced off the wall had been priceless.

But now…

"Thanks for your help, Gilda."

"No problem, general." The griffin saluted, then chuckled. "Wasn't sure what the hell you were thinking, but you were right. We _did_ all want a bit of fun."

Two thousand griffins swarmed into the Crystal Empire's palace, and then out again with a dozen of the largest carrying Sombra between them.

"What do you want us to do with him, general?"

Twilight considered. "Slap two power limiters on him and leave him tied up on Rarity's doorstep with a bow. And a label saying 'new model'."

"Evil." Gilda grinned. "I approve. What next?"

The unicorn shrugged. "I've heard this place has some _good_ wine in the cellars. Comes of centuries of isolation, or whatever happened to it. I think we could consider them… spoils of war?"

"That'll piss off your brother."

"Well, he _did_ forget to let me know about his wedding last week." _Again._

* * *

6

* * *

"The Winter Wrap-Up in Ponyville is traditionally done without magic, Miss Sparkle."

"Oh. How do you do the clouds?"

The Mayor blinked. "Pardon?"

"Pegasi use magic to fly and move clouds. And the reason earth ponies are so strong is because of their magic. So is it going to be groundbound pegsasi and unicorns without use of their horns doing all the work?"

"…er…"

"Because it might take a while."

"I'll… see if I can talk to my subordinates…"

Twilight felt like laughing beneath her pleasant expression. She hadn't caught that the first time through, but it _was_ a good point…

What did she think this cutie mark meant anyway, shovels?

* * *

7

* * *

Discord's statue cracked, then shattered. Out of the stone ruins came the chaotic draconequus. "I'm back, baby! Okay, time to screw with Tia and Lulu and… whoever she's got wielding the Elements this time. This should be fun."

A dot of purple light appeared on the ground next to him. Discord materialized a microscope, turned it upside down, and examined it minutely at a distance of eight feet.

Then he threw the microscope away and looked at the dot of light. "Wonder what this is…"

"Hate detected."

The voice seemed to come from everywhere at once.

The purple dot was joined by a red one, and then a green one, to either side. Turning, he saw blue, pink and yellow. They thickened, becoming searchlight beams, which at least let him know where they were coming from – above.

"Firing orbital friendship cannon."

Discord slapped his forehead, producing a fish. "Oh, bodkins."

* * *

"I feel kind of bad for him…" Fluttershy muttered.

Twilight shrugged. "Now we've shown him we're not to be trifled with, we'll let him out again and see if we can make him behave. Okay, Rainbow, take the cloud down!"

"You got it, Twi! Hah, I wish I'd seen the look on his face!"

* * *

8

* * *

"Right, how did that spell go…"

Twilight looked at the sky. It was only a few minutes from dawn, on the summer solstice.

If everything went as it had first time, Nightmare Moon would arrive in just a few minutes to start going on about how the night would last forever. Honestly, it was getting a little boring.

Twilight sometimes considered she'd gotten a little jaded. Well, what could the universe expect if it made her keep doing the same thing over and over?

Anyway, this at least would be hilarious.

* * *

"…forever!"

As Nightmare Moon started her evil laugh, Twilight closed her eyes and focused.

A faint touch to the Element of Magic… a spell from an ancient spellbook...

"Not today, villain!"

Nightmare Moon paused, looking around to the source of the loud voice, and saw a purple unicorn rearing back on her hind legs.

"I will defeat you myself, in the name of Princess Celestia!"

"You? You're nothing but a _child_. Is this all Celestia has to stop me?"

"Yep! Magic power, go!"

At that point, Twilight's spell triggered. Everything went white, and when it faded she had the Element of Magic on her forehead, and a familiar dress on her back.

More importantly, though, she was once more _Princess_ Twilight.

"…what?" the Nightmare of the Moon managed. "But… what?"

"That's kinda cool." Spike muttered. "When'd you learn_ that?_"

"It was in the Star Swirl wing." The newly ascended alicorn replied, before launching herself into the air and conjuring dozens of balls of lightning.

A good old fashioned punch up would be just the thing.

* * *

9

* * *

"Weirdest. Loop. Ever." Twilight muttered, watching the plaid sky turning amber as the moon rose in the north.

It was. For one thing, she wasn't Celestia's student this time – though that wasn't all that unusual in and of itself. For another, she was viewed a lot like Pinkie Pie had been in the original loop.

That would be because Pinkie Pie in _this_ version of Equestria was the faithful student of King Discord, benevolent ruler of the surreal land of Equestria. And, furthermore, there was evidence that the dreaded Infernal Blaze was returning.

"It's like someone held the whole country up to a funhouse mirror…"

She shook her head. At least there were some benefits. For one thing, things made sense around her – it was like she normalized the area nearby.

"Right. I lay about even odds on either me being the Element of Laughter this loop, or the Element of Magic being one of the five necklaces…"

* * *

"Fools! I shall destroy your pitiful ruler, and then restore my rightful Empire of the Sun!"

Twilight raised a hoof. "Excuse me, miss Infernal Blaze, but… you're kind of on fire."

"Of course I'm on fire! I am the goddess of the sun! I…" Infernal Blaze broke off, sniffed, and started screaming. "Oh me I AM on fire! Help!"

"Lake's over there." Applejack volunteered.

Infernal Blaze jumped bodily into the lake, which happened to be one of chocolate sauce. There was a _splutch_, a hiss, and a delicious smell.

After a moment Celestia's head came out of the sauce. "Towel please."

* * *

10

* * *

"So, Twilight Sparkle. Your friends have abandoned you. What do you say to that?"

Twilight conjured a notebook. "Well, I _am_ looking for a thesis subject…I think 'the long term effects of chaos magic' sounds good."

Discord blinked. "Pardon? You're… not going to stop me?"

"Eeeenope." The unicorn began writing. "So, discordification of a pony involves inverting one of their key personality traits along its own axis. Do you take a guess as to what that is, or is one of your salient divine powers the ability to analyze that sort of thing?"

"What?" Discord frowned, and turned the notebook into a bluejay. "You're far too analytical, Twilight Sparkle. This is the realm of chaos!"

Twilight glared at him, flared her horn, and a bubble of normality bloomed out from her to the size of a small room. The bluejay flew into it, turned back into a book, and fluttered over to Twilight to let her keep writing. "I know, that's why I'm writing all this down."

"You… that's a failsafe spell, isn't it? How is that working?"

"I cast the spell backwards." She noted that down along with everything else. "Wild magic traits in area under influence… do not… always scramble a pre-scrambled spell. Thanks for the info!"

She looked up at him. "If you're not going to let me interview you, then don't let me keep you. I'm sure you have lots of plans for redecorating."

Discord looked at her, then off into the middle distance at nothing, shrugged, and shot off towards Manehattan.

"Right, that's got rid of him. Now, where did the Crusaders go…"

* * *

"Day eighteen… or thirty-seven, depending on if you trust the sunrises. Discord has apparently spent three entire days converting every single cloud in the country into an elaborate topiary sculpture. On a related note, it now rains nectar." Twilight hummed, watching a parasprite playing tennis with Angel Bunny. "That one almost makes sense, really. Plants and nectar."

"I'm hurt." Discord slid out of the pages of her book. "I'd hate to become too predictable."

"You kind of are, actually. I mean, there'd be no point turning the roads from flagstones into granite, it wouldn't be funny."

"Really?" He snapped his claws, and an explosion of heat washed over them.

Twilight held up another notebook. It was turned to a page with the words 'and then Discord turns it into high temperature, nearly molten granite'. "See what I mean?"

"Give me that!" He snatched the whole set out of her magical grip. "This is eight hundred predictions for how I'll react to certain straight lines!"

"Exactly. And I've been ticking off the ones you've done." This time, Twilight held up a bingo sheet. "If you do two more, I get a full house."

Discord ground his teeth into flour, then blew flame on the flour to make some bread, pulled it into a baguette and ate it. "That is very annoying."

"Yep. Oh, and that's another one off the list…" Twilight said, calmly. "I expected more from you."

"I can be unpredictable if I feel like it!" Discord said. "Go on, test me."

With a flash of purple, Twilight vanished. She came back two seconds later with some Poison Joke in a careful telekinetic grip. "Is this one of yours, by the way?"

"Yes, last time I was out. Same with timber wolves and zap apples, I was quite the gardener…" The draconequus summoned a hoe with a flash of light and prodded the ground, which collapsed away under him. "Hm. That isn't encouraging."

"Nice to see you're keeping up old habits." The blue plant was crushed by telekinetic force into a dense mass. Twilight next brought out a painting from a famous surrealist. "This is not a pipe."

"Yes it is." Discord plucked it out of the picture, leaving behind a traffic cone. "I do like that pony's art, though."

"Right. Anyway, want to try smoking the Poison Joke? That should do with your nasty case of predictability." Twilight showed the bingo card again. She'd crossed off the last square when Discord pulled the pipe out of the painting.

"Oh, go on then." Discord rammed it into the pipe, set it on fire, and took a deep pull. From the wrong end, of course.

Twilight held up her notebook one more time at the last page, with a triumphant grin. 'Discord gets stoned'.

"Oh, you crafty little…" Before he'd quite finished the sentence, Discord was a statue again.

"Right." Twilight frowned suddenly. "Now, where did the others go? I'm going to need them to help operate the Elements…"

* * *

11

* * *

Trixie laughed as she cast two powerful age-altering spells on Snips and Snails, luxuriating in the power the Alicorn Amulet gave her. "See, Twilight Sparkle? Now Trixie is the greater unicorn!"

"Maybe, yeah." Twilight said, nodding. "Oh, is that an Alicorn Amulet? I read about those, they give you a huge power boost. Are we allowed those?"

"Silence! Of course Trixie is allowed the Amulet, it took her many months of effort to obtain!"

"Okay." Twilight's horn flickered slightly, and the Element of Magic appeared on her brow. "Hey, watch this!"

There was a brilliant wash of purplish light.

When it faded, Twilight checked her new wings over. "Hmmm, bit larger than last time. Maybe I'm getting better at doing this alone."

Trixie gibbered. "But… but… how? What?"

"Well, I _am_ the bearer of the Element of Magic." Twilight shrugged her wings. "Turns out it comes with benefits."

"That is completely unfair on Trixie!"

"Oh, hush. You're the one who brought a magical superweapon to this duel first, don't complain now it's not the one sided battle you hoped it was." Twilight conjured a spell circle fifty feet across, which shunted the two male unicorns away and sealed the two mares in a shimmering opalescent dome. "Now, I'd actually quite enjoy a duel for once. Are you going to chicken out, or give me a good workout?"

Trixie replied with a fireball the size of a house. Twilight grinned, and started with four Marelin's Magical Missiles and a Cone of Lightning.

This would be _fun_.

* * *

12

* * *

Applejack was a very confused pony. She'd gone to bed that night with everything normal, and the next morning… well, apart from anything else Big Mac asked her if everything was ready for the family reunion.

She hadn't known one was going on at all.

To make things worse, there was no sign at all of her friends. More to the point, it was a completely different _season_ than when she went to bed, and topping everything off was that Applebloom was quite visibly bored.

She'd asked where her friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were, and 'bloom had looked at her like she'd gone funny in the head.

* * *

In fact, it was all so confusing she wondered if she'd tried bucking all the trees in the orchard again.

And then the whole Apple family had shown up, and she'd spent the morning scrambling to keep up with details she didn't know. Something somepony had said suggested this was years in the _past_, which couldn't be right… but which made sense, from what 'bloom was acting like.

Then there was a loud bang, and a cloud of smoke.

"Watch in awe!" a voice shouted from inside the smoke.

"Ah, ponyfeathers. What all is Trixie doing here?" Applejack muttered.

Then the cloud cleared, to reveal…

The farm pony's jaw dropped. "What th' hay? Twilight?"

"Indeed! It is I, the Great and Infinitely Knowledgeable Twilight!"

The baby dragon next to her – Spike, clearly, Applejack realized – sighed and shook his head. "She's been like this all morning. I have no clue why."

* * *

"So, Twi. Spill. What in Tartarus is goin' on?"

Twilight shrugged. "I have no idea. For some reason, I – and now you, apparently – keep going back to the dawn of the day we first met. I've been doing this for a hundred and thirty five loops, so I get kind of… stir crazy." Behind them, Spike tried to eat too many apples at once, incidentally doing a nice job of keeping the rest of the Apple clan distracted from why Applejack was talking so familiarly with the strange unicorn.

"So, what now? And ah could swear you were a Princess last time we met…"

"Sometimes." Twilight shook her head. "About fifteen loops ago, I went full alicorn right in front of Nightmare Moon tomorrow. It confused her so much, it was hilarious. Anyway, I think we should, well… learn what we can, keep ponies safe, try to work out why these loops are happening, and have fun. By the way, don't be surprised if things are… different."

"Different how?" Applejack looked sceptical.

"Well, I once started a loop to discover that I was actually the student of Queen Nightmare Moon. Just… take a moment to check your memory each time, okay?"

The orange mare nodded. "Got it. Now, what do we do about Nightmare Moon?"

Twilight grinned evilly. "I spent two loops learning everything Trixie had to teach me. She actually knows quite a lot about illusions. Now…"

* * *

"…last forever!"

"Ah can see why you said you were bored, Twi." Applejack muttered. "Does she say that every time?"

"Every time." Twilight confirmed, and lit her horn for a moment. "It's done. Go."

She raised her hoof. "Excuse me!"

"What?" Nightmare Moon said, turning her gaze onto Twilight. "Do you have a question for your new empress?"

"Yes, actually. It's just… how, exactly, will we grow crops?"

"…pardon? You interrupt me with _farming_?" The dark goddess' eyes blazed.

"Well, mortals – like us – kind of need food to survive. I'm sure you lost track of that a bit on the moon, but plants need the sun to supply them with energy – which they convert out of sunlight via chlorophyll and a source of water, as well as carbon dioxide in the air. That becomes glucose which is then converted into other sugars, like fructose, or just left as it is, and so that energy is stored in a form ponies can eat – so, without the sun, no food."

Even Nightmare Moon's eyes had glazed over during that explanation. After a moment, she shook her head to clear it and pointed her horn directly at Twilight. "Such concerns are nothing to me! I will not be denied my rightful overlordship by such ridiculous problems as _plants!_"

At that point, an invisible Applejack bucked her in the chin so hard she went flying backwards through the rear wall.

"Buck _that_." the farmpony said, then turned to Twilight. "That work?"

"Nicely, thanks AJ." Twilight replied. "I'll just go get the Elements of Harmony. Be back in a tick!"

She vanished in a flash of purple.

* * *

Outside, Nightmare Moon picked herself up from the wreckage of one whole side of the building. "What impertinent insect has the temerity to-"

She paused. She could hear a voice talking.

"Right, when my one starts to glow, just think about what I told you all to."

It was that annoying unicorn who'd been arguing with her. What was she talking about _now?_

"So, mine's Loyalty, right? Awesome!"

"I think Laughter is perfect for me!"

Those were new – and annoying – voices. Wait… she could swear that those words were… ominous.

"Kindness, kindness… oh, I hope I get this right. Sorry, miss Nightmare Moon, ma'am, but it is for your own good…"

"This is marvellous! It matches my cutie mark perfectly!"

Oh. That's right. Horsefeathers.

Six colours of harmony hit her almost as hard as the earth pony had.

* * *

13

* * *

Twilight grinned at the three other Loopers. "Right, you three, you'll like this."

"What are you planning this time?" Dash asked. "Bet it'll be fun!"

"Yeah. Oh, actually…" she conjured four pairs of mirrored sunglasses, and slipped them over their faces. "We'll need these."

Nightmare Moon finished her speech.

Twilight promptly hit her with a Want-It-Need-It spell.

"And that is what we call poetic justice." The purple unicorn lectured, as several hundred ponies swarmed the stage to hug the startled Nightmare Moon.

Pinkie giggled. "That _is_ funny! Better than when you showed us Spikezilla!"

"We love you!" somepony shouted, and then there was a _crash_ as Big Mac managed to tackle Luna's corrupted self.

"Well, now ah wonder if he's just easy to affect with spells like that…" Applejack said, frowning at her brother. "Or if he just has a crush on her like ah heard."

"I dunno." Twilight shrugged. "Hey, want to try to work out what else the Elements can do? I bet you could tell if somepony's telling the truth or not if you get a strong enough connection with the Element of Honesty."

Dash looked up, grinning. "What would Loyalty let me do?"

"I don't know. This calls for science!"

* * *

14 (HTTYD crossover 1)

* * *

"You are kidding."

The small black Toothless looked over at his (unusually, four-legged) companion through time and space. "Afraid not. This place is mainly populated by ponies."

As Hiccup – well, his memories said he was called Hocus Hiccup, which was _even worse_ than normal – contemplated this, a cyan… pegasus?... came through the door.

"Hey, Twi, what's the plan for – you're not Twilight. Where is she?"

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Never seen her before. Is she the local Loop anchor? I think I've replaced her."

"Don't know what 'anchor' you're talking about, don't care. Where is she, buster?"

Hiccup and Toothless exchanged glances. "Welcome to your first fused loop, then. Sorry, you're not getting your friend – Twilight, right? – this loop. I'm taking her place for all intents and purposes."

The cyan pegasus looked suspicious for another second, then closed her eyes and concentrated. Hiccup felt some strange, _deep_ magic pulse for a moment.

"Okay, yeah, she's not anywhere I can feel for some reason. I'll believe you… for now. Until AJ can give you a look over, anyway."

"Another looper? Sorry, another time looping person?"

"Yeah, she is. Oh, I'm Rainbow Dash – but you can call me awesome."

"Suddenly I'm reminded of Astrid." Hiccup muttered to Toothless, who nodded in return.

* * *

As Nightmare Moon proclaimed her eternal reign, Hiccup looked to the five native Loopers. "This happen every time?"

"Like clockwork." The orange pony – AJ – said wearily. "Last few times, Twi had us blast her with the elements mid-speech for the hell of it."

"Does it have to be that? Or can she be defeated another way?"

"She can!" The pink pony said. "We usually use Spikezilla every twenty or so loops!"

"Right. Toothless, you're on."

The little dragon nodded, and ran forward. As the girls gasped, he swelled and shifted form into the twenty foot lithe predator from Berk, then took wing.

"Fun fact." Hiccup said, brightly. "Toothless' breed of dragon is called the Night Fury. They're nearly invisible in the dark, and they've evolved as ambush predators against other flying entities at night."

Blue flame shot through the air and erupted on something overhead. _Wing! Two points!_

The next shot was green. _Oh, cool. The postal magic can mix in with my fire… hey, Hiccup?_

_Yeah?_

_I just found out how to teleport other objects at range._

Hiccup winced in sympathy for any enemy they would fight in the future. Ever. Except possibly Aizen, who frankly deserved it.

A green fire burned overhead for a moment, and a startled looking Princess Luna slammed into the ground horn first.

Toothless alighted next to her, looking incredibly smug, and shifted back to his loop-native form. "I just teleported her armour right off her. Who's awesome?"

Pinkie raised a hoof. "Ooh, I know this one! It's Dash!"

"You know it!"

Toothless looked slightly deflated. "Whatever. Regardless, Rider, that power is a keeper."

Fluttershy eeped. "Um… did you say, rider? As in, dragon rider?"

"Yeah, I'm normally bipedal. Human, actually, if that means anything to… you?"

All of them were staring at him.

Rarity spoke first. "You mean Lyra was actually _right?_"

With a sigh, Toothless reached into Hiccup's mane, connected to his subspace pocket and pulled out some projection equipment. "We're going to have to give them the 'welcome to the multiverse' talk. Why is it always us?"

"Ranma's having a year off?" Hiccup suggested, then sniggered at the thought of how _he'd_ take this universe. Wild horse indeed… especially since the gender ratio seemed about five to one in favour of female, here.

* * *

Meanwhile, in an entirely different universe, Harry Potter watched with interest as Quirrelmort was used as a ping-pong ball by the unicorn he'd tried to kill.

"And _this_ is for basing your strategy on inadequate research!"

_Note to self, make sure this unicorn never meets Hermionie._

A phoenix flamed in for a moment, then vanished towards Hagrid's hut and the young dragon within.

_Huh. I thought he didn't feel like Fawkes. And Norbert wasn't female… wonder if that's linked somehow._

* * *

"So, how do we beat Discord this time?" Dash asked. "New guy, you got any ideas?"

Hiccup mulled over everything he'd been told about the chaos entity. "Okay, I know. I'll Befriend him."

"We tried that. Pinkie's the only one who can do it reliably. Fluttershy sometimes works too."

"You're not familiar with Nanoha's world. The word has a different meaning there. Toothless?"

The rest of them looked over to the black dragon – and didn't find him. Instead there was a small black octahedron.

_Stand by. Ready._

Hiccup picked Toothless' Device form up in a hoof. "Right, let's go."

* * *

"Ah, hello." Discord said, emerging from the stained glass window.

Hiccup tilted his head, examining the magic. "Okay, this'll work." With a thought, he transferred Raising Dragon to his back, where it transformed into a kind of harness with a pair of gigantic cannons.

_Set up._ _Blaster-three._

With a grin, Hiccup planted his hoof. The floor cracked, and strings music came from nowhere. "I always wanted to do this."

_Firing Lock is cancelled._

"Oh, I saw this…" Discord said, sounding nervous. "Can't remember how it ended, though."

_Cartridge load. Divine Buster._

"Right, right, that was it." The draconequus fled the palace through the window.

Pinkie grinned. "I remember this video too!" Her voice changed slightly. "He's going to blast right through the walls? Oh dear sweet mother of Celestia!"

Said deity's eyes widened, just before the gigantic eruption of magic demolished one of the load-bearing walls of her palace.

* * *

"Owie." Discord said, coughing out smoke.

There didn't seem to be much else to say.

* * *

15 (HTTYD crossover 2)

* * *

"…what the hay?" Twilight muttered, falling forwards onto her stomach. "Oof!"

"What is it?" A voice that was at once familiar and not familiar asked. "Oh, huh. New looper this time."

"Looper?" she asked, trying to push herself back up again. It hurt. For one thing, she didn't seem to have hooves any more. "Do you mean time loops?"

"Yeah. You don't look used to human body shape, hold on." The owner of the voice grabbed her arm and pulled her up.

She turned, barely giving her own new body a glance, and saw that the speaker was a green-eyed human. He reminded her (very slightly) of the human boy she'd seen last time, which had been only a few months long before something blew the castle up.

"There you go. Strange. According to this loop's memories, you're my twin sister. Well, welcome to Berk."

"Loop memories?" After a moment, Twilight realized what he meant by the term. This version of her – Twit? Seriously? Worst name ever – had her own complete set of memories from birth. She remembered growing up on an island full of Vikings, being mocked along with her brother – Hiccup – for not being Viking enough, and their village being constantly attacked by dragons.

"Wow, that's unusual…" she muttered. "I feel like I know you now."

"Yeah, that's how it works. I take it you're relatively new to the Loops?"

"I've done several hundred!"

Hiccup shrugged. "I'm at over ten thousand, and some of the first generation Loopers have done several million. What's your original name?" Seeing her surprise, he shrugged. "Berk is the only place that could possibly come up with a name as silly as _Twit._ I don't doubt you'd rather use your real one."

"Twilight." She answered, after a moment. "Twilight Sparkle."

"Oh, neat. I took your place last Loop. The others are fine, by the way."

"You did? Huh." Twilight frowned. "So, I'm not used to other loops… what happens here?"

"Dragon riding, basically." Hiccup reached into his leather jerkin and pulled out… projection equipment?

"I'll give you the 'welcome to the multiverse' talk, if you haven't had it already."

* * *

"Hi, Spike."

The purplish dragon gave a rumbling growl. It sounded peeved.

"Yeah, they can't speak." Hiccup explained for her. "Toothless is telepathic now, but that's the result of a Pern Loop. Fun place, if you ever end up there."

He frowned. "Actually, if it's Spike there too, I wonder how the Loop would resolve that. Dragons and riders on Pern tend to be same-gender. Anyway, I've got a couple of harness designs that might work for him…"

Spike roared.

* * *

16

* * *

Twilight blinked awake, and did the near-instinctive check all Anchors and Loopers learned to do.

Memory… normal time line. Nothing too unusual.

Next, she felt the local magic to see if anyone else was Awake this Loop. None of the other Elements were active, meaning that Rarity and the rest were all their Prime Loop selves, and there was no sign of outside Loopers either.

"Huh. Looks like I'm alone for once." Twilight frowned. "What should I do…"

* * *

"I won't tolerate this anymore!"

Celestia looked up from where Mrs. Cake had just overfilled her teacup. "What is it, my faithful student?"

"You mock your subjects like that, tricking them into embarrassing themselves. It's a terrible abuse of power!" Horn flaring, Twilight teleported away.

"Oh, dear. I'm sorry, Mrs. Cake, it seems my student is a little… off, today." Celestia apologized.

"That's quite alright, your majesty." Both Cakes chorused. Mr. Cake continued, "We're quite familiar with Pinkie, and it seems as though Twilight is just as highly strung sometimes."

* * *

Three hours later, Celestia was trying to work out what on Equestria had happened.

There were thousands of ponies of all three breeds marching on Canterlot, with red flags waving, singing a rather grim song about how the flags were red because they were dyed with… _blood,_ of all things.

And her student was apparently behind all this, giving speeches about "the proletariat" and "the bourgeoisie" and so on.

It seemed as though Twilight had invented what she was calling 'communism'.

* * *

"Right." Twilight said as she trotted across the moon, reading by the light reflected off the planet below. "That's communism ticked off the list. One more revolution and I'll be able to write the best researched politics essay in history!"

_"That's_ why you did all this?" Luna asked, sitting next to her. "I thought you were serious! It's why I joined in!"

"I was, sort of. It's just, well, I'm actually in a time loop. I've already tried out at least fascism, anarchism – that one was fun, I basically gave Pinkie a megaphone and waited – a democracy, a direct democracy, rule by the short and mercantile republicanism. Communism seemed like a good idea."

"Yeah, brilliant idea." Luna said, stamping on the moon's surface. "If I hadn't fired off that lunar survival spell, you would have exploded."

"Oh, shutup. I didn't know that Celestia would get desperate enough to shove MY Element of Magic onto Trixie's forehead and hope for the best." Twilight stretched. "And you're taking the idea of a time loop very calmly."

"Twilight Sparkle, I happen to think you've snapped. I'm just humouring you." Luna answered glibly.

Twilight turned. "You seem awfully sassy for once."

"We're in private. It's allowed."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

This has been simmering for a while.

So, here's the full guide to the loops:

Nobody knows exactly how the Loops happen, at first.

They tend to involve a complete reset to the start of the "series" in question. Only Loopers keep their memories.

One Looper (in this case Twilight) is the "Anchor", which means the first one to loop. Others will eventually start to join her, and retain their memories as well.

The reset is not always perfect. Sometimes a loop's history will be different to the "prime" loop, or canonical plot. An example of this would be the twilight in "King Discord"'s Equestria.

"Crossover" or "Fusion" loops also occur, randomly. These can involve the home loopers having a guest, or the anchor for one universe spending time in another, or replacements (say, Spyro the Dragon replaces Spike?) or similar.

Vacation Loops are where the Anchor (or others) decide/s "buck it" and lets off steam by doing whatever comes to mind. There's little or no attempt to maintain the original timeline.

Loop duration is variable, and associated with the series in question. For a Harry Potter Loop, it'll reset around a month after the end of Seventh Year unless something else ends it. For a Naruto loop, it tends to be "until death".

Ranma Saotome, Lina Inverse, Shinji Ikari, Harry Potter and Naruto Uzumaki are the original five Loopers.

All Loopers are mind-bogglingly stir crazy.

That first How To Train Your Dragon crossover loop is actually from the other set of Loops I've done, which focus on Hiccup and Toothless.


	2. Chapter 2

2-1

* * *

Twilight teleported into Ponyville. "Right, let's see…"

Pinkie bounced over. "Hiya again Twilight! I'll go get the others!"

"Thanks Pinkie!" she shouted, after the receding earth pony. "You alright, Spike?"

"Yeah…" Spike muttered. "But who was she?"

Twilight shrugged. "I met her before, we stayed in touch." _Technically true…_ "Come on, let's go over to that library we were assigned."

* * *

"What's the plan for this loop?" Applejack asked.

"Nothing much." Twilight shrugged. "No big plan, anyway. As for the Summer Sun celebration, I think it might be Pinkie's turn."

"Yay!" Pinkie started drawing a plan. "I think that if Rarity helps set it up it won't make anyone suspicious… and I can order a big shipment from Canterlot… you've got some spare money, right Twilight?"

"Yep." Twilight nodded. "Dash, you're the fastest. Mind helping Pinkie with getting that delivered?"

Dash grinned. "Not at all!"

"Right. Oh, what _is_ your plan?"

"Well, you know how Nightmare Night is all about appeasing Nightmare Moon with sweets?" Pinkie's smile got wider. "I thought about thirty tonnes rigged up to pour on her when I pull the rope should work!"

* * *

"…last forever!"

Pinkie pulled the rope. The avalanche of sweet things crashed down on Nightmare Moon - and stopped, before flying sideways to cover Pinkie in confectionary.

The other five Loopers started. "Pinkie!"

"Did you think you could stop a goddess so easily?" Nightmare Moon laughed, then dissolved into sparkles of starry night which shot out the door. There was a crash.

"Help!" Roseluck shouted from outside. "That horrible nightmare thing stole the library!"

Twilight blinked. "Did Nightmare Moon just steal my house?"

"Looks like." Applejack said. "Come on, let's dig Pinkie out before she tries t' _eat_ her way out."

* * *

Pinkie had swirls around her eyes when they got her out. "Owie… that must have been some hard candy…"

"What do we do?" Fluttershy asked, as Pinkie shook it off and started popping caramel chocolates into her mouth. "That's not normal, is it?"

"No, it's not. We'd better hurry and find her before things get worse." Twilight frowned. "How can the rest of you do with manifesting your elements?"

"Ah'm afraid ah need to have touched it first." Applejack said. "Remember? We normally go collect them from the castle if we plan on blasting Nightmare Moon."

"Right. I'll go get them now, just in case." Twilight vanished.

After about a minute, Rarity raised a hoof. "Shouldn't she be back by now?"

Dash focused on the secondary powers of her element. "She's not harmed, I can tell that much. But she's just not come back."

* * *

"What the hay?" Rarity said, shocked, pausing as she exited through the large building's door. "What has happened to my boutique?"

The others looked it over. There didn't appear to be any change – certainly nothing that would promote such a strong response from the elegant mare.

"Look at it! Just look! Fluttershy, you must see!"

"Er…" Fluttershy trotted closer, squinting. "That dress in the window has… oh, my. That's terrible."

"What's terrible?" Dash asked. "It can't be that bad, can it?"

"It's been re-stitched half an inch off the join line!" Rarity said, her eyes wide. "And the one on the left side has been dyed four shades too dark!" She burst into motion, galloping into the building.

A high scream came from inside. "Nooo! They've _all_ been _ruined!_ What cruel pony would pair _teal_ with _chartreuse?_"

The others exchanged looks.

"Ah'm startin' to suspect somethin's up this loop…" Applejack muttered.

* * *

Fluttershy sadly read the sign placed in front of her house. Dash peered over her shoulder. "What? 'I have your animals, if you want them back pay the ransom of twelve hundred bits'? What kind of low-down, no good coward would do this?"

"Ah thought it was Nightmare Moon." Applejack pointed out. "What with her bein' two steps ahead of us this loop an' all."

Rarity was still mourning her dresses.

Applejack took an uneasy look at Pinkie, who seemed to be on a sugar rush. Well, it could just be Pinkie being Pinkie, but her eyes looked just a little dilated…

No, that had to be the sugar. Even Pinkie didn't normally emit a faint musical hum.

* * *

Big Mac caught up with them as they entered the Everfree proper. "Sis! Ah've been lookin' all over for you. The trees…"

"What?" Applejack asked. "Nothin' bad happened, ah hope?"

"That's just it." Big Mac shrugged. "They're… lemons."

"Wait, what?" Dash said. "But you're the _Apple_ clan. Apples. Right? How could you miss planting lemons?"

"They weren't lemons yesterday." Both siblings chorused.

"How does that even make sense?" Dash was starting to feel like the voice of reason. It didn't feel comfortable.

"That's just it, RD." Applejack said. "It don't."

* * *

Halfway to the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, there was an explosion overhead. All five ponies' heads snapped back, but all they saw was a series of expanding black rings.

"I don't like this…" Fluttershy said, looking around nervously.

"Ooh!" Pinkie said. "A letter came down! Hey, Dash, it's for you!"

The indicated pegasus took it. It was thick paper, with an official-looking seal on the front.

Holding it gingerly away from her, she opened it. When it failed to explode, she looked more properly.

_Dear Rainbow Dash_

_We would like to inform you that you are our first choice for the position of Shadowbolt Captain, from over a hundred applicants._

_The position carries a very competitive salary, and all our members have expressed interest in working with you._

Dash laughed, pausing in her reading of the letter. "Hah! Like that'll get me. We did this before!"

"Well?" Pinkie said. "What does the rest of it say?"

"Huh? There's more?" Pinkie pointed. "Oh. Er…"

_If you are unable to give this offer your time, we will of course have no hard feelings. In this case, the number two option for this position will be used, and hence the role will go to-_

"Lightning Dust?" Dash shouted. "That no-good two-bit careless… grah! Well, she's not going to beat _me_ this time!" She bunched up her legs to launch into the air, and got tackled by four ponies at once.

"Stay good, Dashie!" Pinkie shouted.

"It's just another of Nightmare Moon's tricks." Rarity pointed out.

"Um… I think it would be a bad idea."

"All right, all right. Sorry, okay?" One by one, her friends got off her. "Sorry. It just caught me by surprise, alright?"

* * *

Twilight slowly returned to consciousness. She'd materialized in the room with the Elements, like normal, and then…

Oh. She'd been hit on the head by a book. Judging by the impact, it was probably Edgar the Griffin's _Decline and Fall of the Romane Empire_. The omnibus edition.

She looked around. Still the castle of the royal pony sisters. In fact, this was quite near the main entrance.

And there were voices coming from said entrance. The others were nearly here? How long had she been out?

Even as she tried to work out what else was wrong, they burst through the door.

"Nightmare Moon!" Dash shouted. "You better give Twilight back!"

Twilight tried to turn, to see where Nightmare Moon was-

"Hey!" Pinkie shouted. "Don't pretend we're not here!"

Then Twilight realized what had been so off when she woke up.

She'd been meticulously painted black and dark purple, her mane styled, her cutie mark painted over… she'd been dressed in armour which looked awfully familiar… there were fake black wings strapped to her, and she was wearing contacts.

"Girls, wait!" she said, urgently. "I'm not Nightmare Moon!"

"That voice trick isn't going to fool us!" Dash said.

Applejack nodded. "RD? On three."

Then somepony started laughing themselves sick. With a crash, a figure fell through a hole in the ceiling and slammed into the floor, still shaking with mirth.

Twilight regained enough presence of mind to use some of the spells Rarity had taught her and recolor her coat to normal, then teleported out of the armour and summoned her Element of Magic.

Everyone recognized the pony heaving with laughter over in the corner at once.

"_Luna?_"

"Ahh haa haa, hee hee, oh, my sides…" Luna finally contained her mirth enough to speak, and rolled onto her front before standing up. "Yes, it's me... I assume there's some kind of time travel going on?"

Twilight nodded. "Time loops. We've all done a good few hundred by now."

"Well… ah, I needed that." Another giggle escaped. "I pranked you all, for once! Ah, that was better than anything Celly's ever done!" Luna shook her head, and tried to stay on topic. "Right. So – pfft… so, you all seem to have been doing this for a while."

Pinkie nodded enthusiastically. Twilight elaborated. "I've got no clue exactly how it happens, but it seems like I loop the most often and the rest of us are on-and-off. Somepony like you might be only around very rarely."

"We kin only hope." Applejack said sarcastically. "Do y'all have any idea what I'm going to do with eight hundred lemon trees? Cuz I don't."

* * *

2.2

* * *

Twilight Awoke in the Canterlot library as usual. She felt for her magic, and found… not quite nothing, but a very different sensation to normal.

"What's…"

Her voice trailed off as she realized something else was missing. More specifically, Spike was – normally, she Awoke with him in the same room of the library.

Then the doors slammed open in a flash of pink magic. "Hiya Twilight! You'll never guess what Celly told us to do!"

At that point, the Loop memories returned. Ah, that's right. She was Twilight Sparkle, an earth pony whose theoretical knowledge of magic was good enough to get her a scholarship into the Academy anyway. And her best friend was Pinkie Pie, the craziest unicorn in Canterlot.

_I'm going to need a freaking drink before this Loop is over…_

* * *

Twilight felt an eye twitch coming on.

This wasn't as crazy as the "King Discord" loop, but it was starting to get close. Fluttershy was an earth pony (which made a fair amount of sense), Rainbow Dash was a unicorn with an obsession with speed and weather spells, and Applejack and Rarity were pegasi.

Everypony's special talent was still the same, though. It had made for a thoroughly strange loop so far, especially when Dash managed to break the sound barrier in a sprint…

The reason for the eye twitch was just because Pinkie had access to teleport magic. It would go away once she managed to repress the memory again.

* * *

It _was_ nice being an earth pony in one way, actually. She could finally properly study how much stronger and tougher she was now than when she was a unicorn. Of course, she'd tried examining the same thing when she was _Princess_ Twilight, but alicorns had much stronger versions of all three kinds of pony magic.

Mind you, the idea that earth ponies were stronger and faster than unicorns had had to compete with Rainbow Dash this Loop, and given up.

_Hmm, let's see… what happened next first time around…_

"Hey, Twilight, can you come over to the library pleeease?" Pinkie asked, materializing in a flash.

"Sure, Pinkie!" For a fraction of a second, Twilight tried to teleport, then felt like facehoofing. _You're an Earth Pony this loop, Twilight!_ "What for?" she asked, to cover her mistake.

"Oh, I found a spell under 'A' in some old book, and it says it needs the Elements of Harmony to help with it! It'll be super-duper-nice!"

_Ah, horsefeathers. This won't end well._

* * *

Discord applauded. "I never thought of making the moon into a disco ball! I have to say, Celly, I do approve of your choice of new princess."

"Shut up." Celestia said, sitting down next to him. "I forgot how hyperactive she gets, okay?"

Overhead, Princess Pinkie Pie shot past trailing a rainbow and making cat noises.

* * *

2.3

* * *

With a flash, Twilight materialized in Canterlot Castle right next to her brother. "Hi, B.B.B.F.F! What's this I hear about a wedding?"

Shining Armor flinched back. "Gah! Who the hell… Twily?"

"That's right!" Twilight replied, grinning. "What's wrong?"

"Your… your mane and coat…" Shining pointed. "You've dyed them bright pink."

"Yep! My friends and I formed a band, and Pinkie's in charge, and she asked us to all dye our manes and coats! Sorry, I forgot to tell you about it. My bad, huh?"

The other five Elements came in, having been dropped off outside by Twilight. Every last one of them was blazing fluorescent pink everywhere except for their tails.

"But… but… what are our parents going to think?"

Twilight shrugged. "I'm sure it'll be great fun! Hey, Pinks, what are we going to start with?"

Pinkie Pie pulled sheet music out of her mane. "Weee-ll, we have a choice between _The Song That Never Ends_ or _Discordian Rapshody._"

Applejack frowned. "Why not _Nightmare Moon's Revenge_, Pinkie? Twilight wrote that one."

"Yeah, sounds great!"

Shining Armor collapsed with a _thud_, finally overcome with shock.

Twilight hoofbumped the others. "Nice work, girls! That'll teach him to not let me know he's getting married."

* * *

2.4

* * *

Twilight stumbled, almost falling, and shivered. "That was _not_ fun!"

Spike watched, dumbfounded, as she teleported out of Canterlot library.

* * *

Six bright flashes of light later, the other five Elements found themselves inside the Ponyville library's upper bedroom.

"Girls…" Twilight tripped over her words. "Just… _hold _me."

Mutely, she spread her forelegs, and the others hugged her.

"What's wrong, Twi?" Dash asked. "Bad Loop?"

"Basically." Twilight sighed, and shook herself. "Okay. So, I ended up there after, you know… trying to see if the Element of Laughter worked for Discord."

Everyone contemplated that silently.

"Where'd you end up, Transformers again?"

"Applejack!" Fluttershy rebuked, then flinched. "Oops. Sorry for raising my voice."

"It's fine," everyone else chorused.

"No, it wasn't Transformers. Okay, I think I'm fine now, girls."

One by one, Applejack, Rarity, Dash and Fluttershy got off Twilight. Pinkie stayed hugging her.

"Er, Pinkie… you as well, please."

"Nope!" Pinkie said. "You'll need it again in a minute!"

Twilight shrugged. "Whatever makes you happy. Anyway, I ended up in this kind of… bizarre version of Ponyville. Almost nobody actually _did_ anything."

"Liiiike?"

"Well, you know how Cheerilee works as a school teacher?" The others nodded. "Yeah. There, she was a storyteller."

Applejack frowned. "So what was her job, then?"

"She didn't have one. Nor did Pinkie – she just ran around giving everyone parties."

"Ooh!" Pinkie said. "I like the sound of that place!"

Twilight shook her head, sending Pinkie's mane flying. "No, you wouldn't. You didn't have any of your Laughter powers – you just occasionally used balloons to fly around."

"Whaaaat? This place made _me_ boring?"

"Yeah." Twilight pointed at Rarity. "I only saw you and Dash there, apart from Pinkie. You were some kind of stuck up princess."

"I was a _Princess?_" Rarity wobbled slightly, and materialized her couch just in case. "Twilight, I don't see how you could possibly dislike the place!"

"No, small-p. You were an heir, about the age of the Crusaders or less, and there wasn't a queen that I saw."

"Oh." That sounded much less inviting to the white unicorn. "That's no good."

"It just… nothing _happened_."

"What about me?" Dash said. "Please tell me I was awesome, at least!"

Twilight gave her a look. "Dash, when I tell you this, I want you to remember the time that you replaced every book in my library with ones that were slightly out of print, and made me think I needed glasses."

"…yeah?"

Twilight's voice took on a syrupy sweet quality. _"Rainbow Dash always dresses in style."_

Dash twitched, and fell over in a faint onto Rarity's convenient couch.

* * *

2.5

* * *

"Hey, uh… Miss Twilight?"

Twilight looked up. It had been a fairly pleasant early Loop this time. None of the others were Awake, and she'd handled Nightmare Moon the normal way for once.

Surprisingly, though, in front of her were Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scotaloo.

_That can't be right… it isn't until Twist's cute-caneara that they normally meet properly…_

"What is it, you three? Uh… I recognize you, you're Applejack's sister."

"Yep!" Applebloom said proudly. "This is Sweetie Belle, Rarity's sister, and this is Scootaloo. And we're…"

Twilight braced herself for the shout.

"…well, we don't know what's happened. We're in the past, somehow. Or, we're in the present now, but we were in the future! But it wasn't the future back then, and…"

Raising a hoof, Twilight headed off Applebloom's babbling explanation. "Okay, I understand. Now, I don't know exactly _why_ this has happened to you, but I know _what_ has happened."

"Really?" Scootaloo said. "You're so smart, pr-uh, I mean, Miss Twilight!"

Twilight grinned, summoned the Element of Magic, and momentarily flashed into alicornhood before undoing the spell again. "I've come back in time too. And this isn't the first time. Basically, I keep looping back to the first day I came to Ponyville, and so do the other Elements of Harmony – sometimes. I don't know how often you three will or if you'll do it alone."

The Crusaders absorbed that information.

"Miss Twilight?" Sweetie Belle said.

"Just call me Twilight, please."

"Alright. Uh… Twilight, you said you'd come back more than once?"

"I have." Twilight confirmed.

"Then… can you tell us what our cutie marks are?"

Twilight chuckled. "It doesn't work like that. Even if you think you know what your cutie mark is going to be, you can end up with something completely different."

"Awww…" the crusaders chorused.

"Besides, you've each had at least three different ones that I've seen."

Now they were just dumbfounded.

"Uhhh… how does that work?" Applebloom asked.

"Okay." Twilight conjured a blackboard. "Do you want the long version, or the short one?"

"Short!" Scootaloo and Applebloom said hastily. Sweetie nodded.

* * *

"That wasn't short…" Sweetie moaned. "That took half an hour!"

"Of course it was!" Twilight said indignantly. "This _is_ one of my thesis projects!"

"Right… hey, I got a great idea!"

Scootaloo whispered to the other two, who exchanged nods with her. "Cutie Mark Crusader timeline fixers go!"

Twilight watched them leave at a run. "This won't end well. I don't know where it's going, but it _won't_ end well."

* * *

From a distance, Twilight watched as the changeling army overran Canterlot.

"I was right, it didn't."

"Sorry, Twilight." Applebloom said morosely.

"How did you even _do_ this?"

"Well, we wanted to get revenge on that mean Changeling Queen!" Scootaloo began. "But when we did our 'this is why we're beating you up' speech, she just… took notes."

Twilight shook her head. "I think you girls still have a lot to learn about how everything has a result when you mess with time travel."

"Yeah, we worked that out." Scootaloo kicked a pebble. "What now?"

At that point, the changeling army captured Rarity, and Spike went off.

"_This_ is planning ahead, girls." Twilight said smugly, as Spikezilla punched Chrysalis right out of the city. "Take notes."

* * *

2.6

* * *

"Hey, Pinkie?" Twilight mused, glancing over at the recently Awakened pink party pony.

"Yeah, Twilight?" said pony replied, bouncing in place.

"You know Nightmare Moon?" Twilight nodded at Luna's dark side, currently mid speech.

"Of course!"

"Well, it just struck me that she's not had a proper birthday party celebration since she got stuck on the moon… a thousand years ago."

Twilight handed Pinkie a key. "Here. I put supplies in the basement of the library. Go nuts."

A pink blur shot past her out the door, then back in again and landed on Nightmare Moon in a shower of pastries.

"It's your first belated birthday party!"

Nightmare kicked out with her legs, missing Pinkie entirely. "Get OFF me, you worthless nag!"

"Somepony's cranky! Must be party withdrawal!" Pinkie chuckled. "Hey, Twilight, go grab my party howitzer!"

Twilight nodded. "On it."

"Applejack, I need more apple flavoured pies, stat! And balloons, I must have balloons! And somepony bring me _sprinkles!_"

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy exchanged looks.

"Well, they're excited." Dash eventually said, as Pinkie hog-tied Nightmare Moon with a length of tinsel and plonked her down in front of a cake that looked more like a bonfire.

"Yeah." Fluttershy replied.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Rarity polished off the last of the cake after being assured that one slice wouldn't ruin her figure.

"While that was an… irritating diversion," Nightmare Moon simmered, "Now you have released me, I will continue. The Night Will-"

"Fire, Twilight!"

The party howitzer round detonated, covering everything with frosting half an inch thick and landing Nightmare Moon up against the wall again.

"Now it's time for your _second_ belated birthday party!"

There was another cake. There were more presents. There was a fresh supply of balloons.

Nightmare Moon shook her head. "This is not how I envisaged my triumphant return."

* * *

"Nine hundred and ninety nine…" Pinkie said chirpily. "Time for the last one!"

She looked around. Sadly, not many ponies were really in the spirit of a birthday party any more, being mostly passed out in a satiated haze.

And the country was kinda-sorta-running out of sugar.

"Why?" Nightmare Moon croaked. "Why do you torment me like this?"

"Torment? Silly, you don't understand parties at all! They're for fun! And they show that other ponies want to have fun _with_ you!"

"Besides." Twilight said, delicately eating a scone. "If she hadn't gotten it all out of her system now, you'd be being ambushed at random times for the next decade. Anyway, I thought you wanted to be appreciated."

"I have a new respect for the problems my sister faced." Nightmare Moon deadpanned. "Now, can I please go? I need to… go and work off some of this sugar."

"One more candy apple and a smile…" Pinkie coaxed. "And off you go."

"…fine." Nightmare Moon took the candy apple, and forced a grin. Pinkie clapped.

"There you go! Don't you feel better?"

"A bit." Nightmare Moon allowed.

"Yay! Mission successful!"

"And it only took y'all most of mah apples." Applejack said. "Along with makin' the Cakes the richest family in Equestria."

* * *

2.7

* * *

Nightmare Moon strode back and forth upon the surface of her celestial home. _Not long now…_

"Hi!"

She turned, eyes flashing, and saw an eager looking young unicorn… standing on the moon.

"How are you alive?"

"Oh, that. Well, I guessed that lunar survival probably involved pressurized air in a bubble around the pony, so I adapted a bubble-head charm. Anyway," the unicorn held out a sheaf of papers. "You hiring?"

Confused, Nightmare Moon took the paper and began reading. "Twilight Sparkle… Adept class mage – really? You look very young for it."

"I can do the test, just like any other Adept." Twilight said. "Anyway..?"

Nightmare Moon kept reading. "So, you're my sister's personal student?"

"Yeah, but I'm trying to keep my options open. I think a bit of time rounding out my knowledge of black magic would help."

"Indeed…" Nightmare Moon looked sideways at Twilight. "I think I could use somepony like you."

* * *

The Ruler of the Night, Empress of Equestria, scowled out of her window.

"It's just not the same."

Twilight shrugged. "Well, it's letting ponies grow plants, and it still IS night."

"Yes, but my moon is supposed to be a pale orb of light, shimmering in the night sky. Not a giant mirror."

"Can't blame me for getting rid of the inefficiencies in the system."

Two Night Guards alighted on the balcony. "Your darkness, there is a meeting of parliament in ten minutes."

"_And _you introduced this as well." Nightmare groused. "I don't see why we have to listen to all those idiotic minor nobles and sleazy politicians."

"That's easy." Twilight answered. "This way, everyone's too busy trying to work out how to exploit the system to be able to find the Elements of Harmony."

* * *

Celestia kicked at the surface of the sun, which flared up in a burst of plasma.

"Nopony knows the trouble I've seen, nopony knows my sorrows…"

* * *

2.8

* * *

"These are my three sons. Spyro, age nineteen; Toothless, age seventeen; and Spike, age sixteen. Pick which one you want to be your fiancé."

Rarity groaned. "This is not going to be a fun loop…"

"You're telling me?" Twilight said, from the door. "I keep turning into a panda!"

* * *

2.9

* * *

The last thing Twilight remembered was a flash of multicoloured light, then-

"What were we doing?" she mumbled, as she forced her eyes open. "Something about giving the Crusaders the Elements of Harmony?"

"Yep." Applejack said from next to her. "And ah think we bucked the universe up."

Twilight looked around the furnished train compartment. "Oh. Hogwarts again. But why are we still ponies this time?"

"Beats me." Applejack shrugged. "Let's go see if the others ended up in a different compartment of the train."

* * *

"So, this isn't a fused loop." Twilight mused, as she watched everyone cheer Dash going into Gryffindor. "Looks like we're replacing people. Dash for Harry seems vaguely appropriate – you know, lightning bolts – but nobody seems to be really noticing that we're ponies."

"Is that unusual?" Fluttershy asked.

"Fairly. They were _really_ confused when I Looped into the Trek universe."

* * *

"There, there…" Fluttershy said, scratching the enormous reptile under the chin. "You didn't mean to hurt anyone, did you? It was that nasty Mister Riddle who made you do it, wasn't it?"

The Basilisk crooned, thumping the floor with its enormous tail.

Pinkie snatched up the diary. "Dibs! Ooh, this'll be nice. My very own book friend I can write in and it can talk to me and I can tell it about parties and…"

The Diary Horcrux twitched, then self destructed.

* * *

"The first challenge is to, ah… _retrieve the golden egg_."

Twilight and Dash exchanged glances.

"Right, so you first, Miss Rainbow Dash, of, ah…"

"The Wonderbolt Academy!"

"Oh, sorry. I should have remembered."

As Dash drew out a Ukranian Ironbelly, Twilight rolled her eyes. The Twiwizard Tournament had got seriously broken this Loop – the Goblet of Fire had entered her as a student in Celestia's Academy and Dash as part of the _Wonderbolt_ Academy.

* * *

Twilight teleported to the egg, picked it up telekinetically, and teleported back. "Right, that was easy."

As she trotted over to the stands, Dash got her own at five hundred miles per hour.

* * *

"Oh, come on!" Dash shouted. "We have to _swim_? Wings don't go well with water!"

Twilight shrugged. "Come on. Unless you want to forfeit, and I'll get both Fluttershy _and_ Rarity?"

"Why did they choose those two, anyway?" Dash muttered.

"Same race, I think. Anyway, there _is_ another option."

"If it means I don't have to lose, I'll take it!"

"Right." Twilight's horn flashed.

* * *

"Shoo ba doo."

"Language!" Twilight said. "Right, that spell should wear off in another ten minutes. And at least you got third place!"

"Bloop." Rainbow flipped her seapony's fins, and gave Twilight a dirty look.

* * *

"Rainbow Dash, go!"

Dash took off like a rocket, flew over the maze and grabbed the trophy. There was a surge of motion, and she was in a graveyard.

Two seconds later Twilight teleported in next to her. "Hi, Rainbow. Yeah, this is Little Hangleton alright. Hang on a sec, I'll get the others."

Twilight flashed away again.

A high, cold voice shouted something, and Dash collapsed.

* * *

She came around a minute later, tied to a gravestone.

"Do you have any idea how long I've waited for this, Rainbow Dash? Your mother-"

Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie materialized next to her, and Twilight severed the ropes holding Dash in place. "Here, catch."

Rainbow grabbed the flying necklace out of the air and slipped it on. "Right, let's do this!"

"Wait, what are those?" Voldemort asked, before he and his lackey Crouch got a faceful of harmony.

* * *

"Five… six…" Twilight ticked off a list. "Last one left's the Ring."

"Right." Dash frowned. "Aren't I supposed to be one?"

"Not after using the Elements. I blasted it with a side beam – it didn't stand a chance."

"Cool."

"Right. Hey, Fluttershy! I'm going to need Chompy's help!" Twilight called.

Fluttershy nodded. "All right. Here, boy! Come on!"

The Basilisk (wearing a sleeping blindfold) slithered across the Chamber floor and nuzzled Fluttershy, before vanishing with her and Twilight in a flash of light.

* * *

"There we go." Twilight said, carefully lifting the ring out of a box. "Wow, that _is_ pretty impressive…"

"Twilight?" Fluttershy said. "Stop looking at the ring like that, it's… er… worrying."

Chompy rolled his blindfolded eyes, then spat a glob of venom at the hovering ring. It hissed, and exploded.

Twilight shook her head. "Ergh. Sorry, I wasn't ready for it. The others were a lot easier. Anyway, it's almost the start of year five now, so we finished just in time."

"Yay." Fluttershy cheered.

* * *

2.10 (Contributed by Finagle007 from SpaceBattles)

* * *

"Congratulations upon your graduation. Team One will be... Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity, with jonin sensei Luna." Iruka proudly announced, with a wide smile on his face.

"Yay," Fluttershy whispered, while Applejack and Rarity's faces lit up like the sun.

"Team Two..." Iruka continued, "Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle, jonin sensei Celestia – what the-!"

With an almighty crash, a terrified and slightly burned Jiraiya came hurtling through the window, pursued by a furious (and damp) Celestia and Luna.

"HOW DAREST THOU SPY UPON US WHILST WE RELAX IN THE HOT SPRINGS, VILE PERVERT!" Luna boomed, Royal Canterlot Voice in full effect.

Jiraiya hopped back onto his feet and started to dance. "I'm no pervert, I'm a _super_ - YOW! Watch where you point that thing!"

"Oh, I am," snarled Celestia, her horn glowing brightly as she unleashed another bolt of sunfire at the (very, very doomed) perverted sage.

"This is beyond troublesome..." Shikamaru muttered. Shino nodded in agreement.

* * *

AN:

Well, that was fairly quick.

Don't necessarily expect this rate to be sustained, though...

And yes, that was indeed Nyan Princess Pinkie Pie. It's the sort of thing she'd DO with divine power...


	3. Chapter 3

3.1

* * *

"Twilight!"

"What is it, Dash?" Twilight turned from where the Alicorn Amulet was under the microscope.

"I want to be able to become an alicorn, like you can. I'm already the most awesome pegasus, what's wrong with becoming the most awesome alicorn?"

"…right." Twilight pulled out a notebook. "Cadence told me how she ascended… let's see…"

A flash of light enveloped them both. When it faded, Dash found herself on a small island in the middle of the ocean. Strangely, it was now night-time.

"Okay." Twilight said. "Summon the Element of Loyalty."

Dash frowned, and the lightning-bolt necklace burst into existence.

"Good. Now, then. I am going to post a letter in twenty minutes that insults the Wonderbolts and calls them second-rate losers. It is in your name. If you want to stop it, you will have to get back to Ponyville before then."

The pegasus' eyes widened. "That's cruel and unusual punishment, Twilight! I don't even know where we are!"

Twilight gave a wicked grin. "It doesn't matter. Go straight in any direction from here and you'll get to Ponyville. Just hurry – we're on the other side of the planet."

She vanished in another purple flicker.

Dash stared dumbfounded for a second, then shot into the air with a thunderclap of displaced air and broke the sound barrier before she'd gone a hundred metres.

* * *

_Okay, I'm going at about two thousand miles an hour, and I need to go… a lot faster than that._ Dash's wings blurred as she kept ramping up the speed. Weather magic reached out in front of her and pushed the air aside, and more pushed her from behind.

There was a sudden burst of multicoloured fire, blinding her, so she closed her eyes and pushed harder.

Behind the pegasus, the plasma sheath recombined back into air molecules. And around her neck, the Element of Loyalty began to faintly glow.

* * *

Squinting against the wind and the heat, Dash looked down.

There was land, then water… then land again. _Huh. I always thought the ocean was wider than that._

The prairie around Appleoosa blurred past, too fast for her to spot the town, and then she was coming into Ponyville and _oh buck slow down-_

* * *

Twilight dove for cover.

What looked for all the world like a meteorite shot overhead, set fire to the library, and embedded itself in the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.

* * *

Luna shot upright in bed. "WHAT VILLAIN HATH DESTROYED MINE SPARE ROOM?"

* * *

Twilight leant over the hole. "Hey, Rainbow?"

A groan answered her.

"There's some bad news, and some good news. I'll give you the bad news first."

What sounded like a more resigned mumble.

"Right. The bad news is, you obliterated your house on the way into town, broke every window and set fire to my house on the way through, and I think Applejack's going to be annoyed about half her orchard as soon as she works out what happened. And you're a hundred metres deep in a mountain."

"What's the good news?" Rainbow asked, a little more coherently this time.

"Well, you're embedded a hundred metres deep in a mountain that you hit at seventy times the speed of sound, and you're still alive. I think it worked."

"It did?" A blue blur came flying out of the hole, flipped, and landed next to Twilight. Rainbow Dash had indeed picked up a horn.

"Right. That's a check, then. It looks like I was right!"

"Wait, what?" Dash looked at Twilight. "I thought you said you knew how this worked."

"Well, guessed…" Twilight shrugged. "Basically, from what Cadence said, it looks like becoming an alicorn involves both an action that's related to the extreme edge of your capabilities – with your special talent involved, of course – and a magical catalyst, like a lump of Heart stone… or an Element of Harmony."

Dash pointed her new horn at Twilight. "You tricked me!"

"Yep!" Twilight grinned. "Had to, or it wouldn't have worked. I think."

The new alicorn sighed. "Okay, what's next?"

"Well, hopefully you won't need to hit that kind of speed to reascend. I think once you've done it once it gets easier. I'm going to teach you Star Swirl's spell, because that's the only thing I know that can _un_do a transition to alicornhood, and we'll test if you can do it with just the Element alone."

Twilight pointed. "But we might need to do that next loop. I think we finally found out what it takes to turn Ponyville into an angry mob."

Dash followed the pointing hoof, and saw Big Mac passing out torches and pitchforks with an amiable air.

"They're not all that angry…" she said critically.

"Well, explaining _would_ be awkward." Twilight countered.

"Yeah. Alright, what's the plan?"

The unicorn pondered. "Well, that island I teleported you to was nice…"

* * *

3.2

* * *

"-last forever!"

Twilight released her spell, and then released the parasprites. Four of the little magical bugs flew forwards, looked around for something they considered to be "food", then locked onto the only thing that currently qualified.

Nightmare Moon's armour.

"Huh." Twilight said, watching as Nightmare Moon ran in and out of doors, pursued by a gradually growing cloud of parasprites and slowly losing her armour. "It _is_ funny when I'm not worried about them eating the town."

Pinkie pulled a saxophone from somewhere, and started playing a raspy piece of music that seemed very appropriate. Especially when Nightmare Moon went into one door, and then came out of the other side of the street two seconds later.

* * *

3.3

* * *

Twilight tuned out Chrysalis' ranting about how she'd be trapped in the old mines forever.

She was just waiting for the fireworks to start. Thanks to a single forged invitation, a bit of careful magic, and quite a lot of boredom…

* * *

Chrysalis finished belittling the annoying little purple unicorn, and closed the connection. _Ah, that was good_.

She'd had a point, though. It wouldn't do to let the quality of her disguise slip, not this close to her triumph.

Checking in the mirror, she adjusted a few very minor details. The hair colour, the precise shape of the horn, and the coverts on the wings.

Green magic couldn't be avoided, so she was being careful only to use it on Shining Armor – that one was so out of his gourd much of the time he probably wouldn't have noticed if she'd detransformed.

Then, a wash of something… unusual came across her empathic senses. It didn't feel like a pony, that was for sure.

**"Crystals…"**

Chrysalis turned, to see an unusual looking dark unicorn with an aquiline bearing.

"Who the hell are you?"

The connection to the purple unicorn reopened without her touching it. "Just to let you know, his name is Sombra. He's the pony who took over the Crystal Empire. As far as he's concerned, he's finally found you – you being Cadance – and is going to… yeah, probably try and drain your magic, at the very least."

Twilight grinned. "Imponysonating someone with their own problems is a right bitch, isn't it?"

* * *

The room of Princess Cadance exploded in a fountain of black and green magic.

Everyone turned, shocked, to see Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and an unknown black unicorn locked in a spectacular magical battle. Cadance' form was flickering, as though it was being projected onto a sheet of cloth in a high wind, and black chitin occasionally showed through.

"What the hell?" Celestia said, trying to make out what was going on through the storm of magic. "Isn't that… Sombra?"

Twilight materialized next to her, with a badly exhausted Cadance along for the ride. "Hi, Princess. I found the real one! Where'd my brother get to?"

The Solar alicorn reacted automatically, pointing to the startled looking guard captain in a nearby plaza.

"Thanks! Right, hang on a sec, I'll go get him."

Twilight galloped off.

Cadance looked up at the explosions. "That _does_ simplify my situation a bit, actually. I was wondering how we were going to handle Sombra."

A badly singed piece of gold-chased card fluttered down from above. Celestia took it in her grip. "Er… _Dear King Sombra. You are cordially invited to the wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and someone you probably don't care about. Her room is shown on the included map. Yours, Twilight Sparkle._ Twilight did this?"

The pink alicorn shrugged. "Like I know. I've spent the last two months in a mine. By the way, how's the wedding planning going?"

"You're still worried about that?" Overhead, Chrysalis dropped her shapeshift and started to concentrate on pure firepower.

"I have spent two months trapped in a mine." Cadance enunciated clearly. "I have spent a _lot_ of time dreaming about that wedding. If you tell me it is going to be called off because of something so minor as a _war_, then I think I might cause you and Luna to both fall in love. With the same stallion. That one from Cloudsdale with the giant biceps."

Celestia shuddered. "All right, point taken."

Hundreds of changelings shot into the air from all over Canterlot, hurrying to reinforce their queen, then got bowled backwards by a colossal blast of air.

"Has Sombra even noticed that the pony he's fighting doesn't look like you any more?" Celestia asked, suddenly curious.

"I doubt it. He never was all that observant."

* * *

"Well, this is a fine mess you've gotten us into." Chrysalis grumbled, staring down at Equestria hanging below them.

**"Crystals?"**

"Oh, shut up."

* * *

3.4

* * *

"Twiiiliiight?" the blue alicorn moaned.

"What is it, Dash?"

"I'm bored."

"Well, sorry, but it's taking me quite a lot of concentration to maintain this stability bubble." Twilight flared her wings, slammed her forehooves onto the floor, and a magic circle bloomed out from her to five lengths in every direction. "There. Now, Dash, can't you be at least a bit serious?"

"Why?" Rainbow Dash countered.

"We're in the past. A _long_ way in the past, in case you hadn't noticed." A raven shaped like a writing desk flapped past.

"I never was much of a fan of history." Dash shrugged.

Twilight facehoofed. "I'd think even _you_ would remember about how Discord was in charge before the Royal Sisters showed up."

"Huh. So we're that far back? Be neat to see what the Princesses looked like when they were younger."

"No, you're not getting it." Twilight pointed from her to Dash. "_We're_ the Sisters this time. We've replaced Celestia and Luna."

"…huh." Dash absorbed that for a while. "Dibs on being Luna!"

"Why?"

"Twilight," Dash said, as if talking to a filly. "Luna gets a thousand year nap."

* * *

"Oh, what a world, what a world… my only regret is, that I never got to… sing! I am the enemy, I will succeed…"

Twilight tried to ignore Discord's blathering. _How long is this going to take?_

"Twi! Can't you make those elements go any faster?"

"I'm not used to using Honesty and Generosity, Dash! You should know how hard it is to use Elements you're not used to!"

Dash shrugged, then wobbled and shifted to make sure the pair of necklaces around her wings didn't fall off. "Laughter seems to like me."

Stone crept another inch up Discord's mismatched legs.

"…couldn't you have come up with a better way of wearing these, than putting them around-"

"We are _not_ having this argument again, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight snapped. "I didn't see you coming up with any better options!"

* * *

An excruciating half hour later, Discord was finally sealed.

"_Me_, but that took too long." Dash panted.

"I know… wait." Twilight looked over suspiciously at her 'sister'. "Did you just use 'me' as an oath?"

"Yeah!" Rainbow replied. "Why not?"

"…never mind. Anyway…" Twilight pointed over to a growing crowd of ponies in the distance. "I think it's time for our first public appearance."

Dash looked at her, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, we beat Discord, now we have to set up the government of Equestria. That means paperwork."

The former pegasus gagged. "Can I launch my coup now? Please? I want to relax on the moon!"

* * *

3.5

* * *

"We don't have all day, Miss Sparkle."

Twilight blinked, disoriented for a moment as the Loop began. _Where the hell am I? I hope it's…_

Then she saw the egg in front of her. _Oh, cool. The entrance exam._

Having researched it, Twilight knew that technically there _was_ no one answer to the exam. You were basically supposed to show your ingenuity. The examiners were even allowed to offer advice if you asked.

But… that was boring.

With a crackle, she fired an age alteration spell at Spike's egg. Carefully modulating it to overcome the natural magical resistance all dragons had, she aged the egg in a matter of seconds to the point it hatched.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that several of the unicorn examiners had dropped their clipboards in shock. Her parents were a little startled too.

_Oh, yeah, that's a high level spell. Ah well._

"Did I do alright?"

A tingling in her flank reminded her that she also had the nearly-unique experience of getting her cutie mark for a second time. Twilight more or less ignored what everyone else in the room was saying to meticulously examine how the magic worked.

_Hmm… that's five thousand words of thesis that need to be rewritten…_

* * *

"Huh." Rarity said, and shrugged. "So much for being pulled sideways. Suppose knowing what my talent is going to be helps."

Whistling to herself, she started digging gems out of the ground and constructing a dress. "Wonder if I can make enchanted items without it being too suspicious. Perhaps a Cape of Charisma?"

* * *

Fluttershy awoke falling out of the sky. Shaking off her brief daze, she frowned. While getting to know her animal friends was nice, she didn't feel like quitting. _Not this time._

While the demure pegasus wasn't nearly as fast as Rainbow Dash, neither was anyone else. She still got back to the academy faster than she'd been falling.

* * *

Dash hit the sound barrier almost as soon as she became conscious. Seeing that Fluttershy could handle herself, she made a u-turn and aimed _up_.

A column of rainbow fire shot into the air over the Young Fliers' Academy, climbing quickly until it was above the clouds. Now too far to be seen from the ground, she went Alicorn, wrapped herself in air, and accelerated.

_Let's see just how high I can go!_

* * *

"Hey, Mum, Dad, Inkie, Blinkie, watch this!"

There was a thunderous explosion, and it started to rain chocolate.

"Pinkamena, what on this good green Equestria was that?" Clyde asked, coughing in the clouds of sugar.

"It's my patent pending Pinkie Pie Cotton Candy Cloud Contraption!" Pinkie rattled off, bouncing. "It's fuelled by Peridot, Calcite and earth magic!"

Inkie stuck out a tongue. "Hey, this tastes of strawberry."

Pinkie kicked at the field. "Well, I didn't have much chance to do taste testing… I was aiming for banana and chocolate."

"Oh, I like them." Clyde said. "Good of you to think of me like that."

"I try!" Pinkie beamed.

"So, how'd you find the time to build this? Ah hope the chores are done."

"I did my chores before I got to work." Butter wouldn't have melted in Pinkie's mouth. It was even true – she'd finished it last Loop, but hadn't found enough calcite. "Hey, why don't we have a party to celebrate?"

* * *

"Ah do still want to come and see y'all, aunt Orange." Applejack said. "Ah just don't want to forget the farm, and all. How's about ah spend the harvest 'n plantin' down there, and ah come here for the growin' season?"

Valencia Orange clapped her hooves together. "That _does_ sound nice. We'll be waiting, then."

* * *

"Right." Twilight said, looking around the abandoned Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters that night. "Everypony happy with what they've done?"

There was general assent. Fluttershy raised a hoof. "For some reason, er, my cutie mark is a bit different. Do you know why?"

Twilight checked. "Oh, yeah, it is. Interesting. Well, butterfly with speed lines is close to your original one."

She then rounded on Dash. "And what were _you_ thinking?"

"I wanted to go as high as I possibly could!" the alicornified filly answered.

"Dash, I had to rescue from _orbit_. Now, you can't go back until you've managed to untransform – it'll be strange enough that you hit escape velocity." Twilight sighed. "Okay. Here's my plan. We basically all get lost in a few days, somehow, and each of us turns up back at home half an hour later with our Element – we say we just found them somewhere. That should mean Celestia intervenes and gets us introduced to one another."

"That makes sense." Applejack nodded. "Don't she know where the Elements are supposed to be, and all?"

"Well, the Element of Magic starts a Loop nowhere at all. I asked about that once – apparently they do sometimes just disappear, when they're not attuned." Twilight looked from one face to the next. "Anything else?"

There wasn't.

"Okay. The rest of you can leave – Rarity, you can get them home, right?" Rarity nodded, building magic for a series of teleports. "Good. Dash, pay attention!"

Rainbow Dash kicked the floor. "Aw, shucks. Okay, let's try this."

* * *

_Several years later…_

* * *

Nightmare Moon crept into Ponyville. This was the pathetic town that her sister's Summer Sun celebration was to be held at this year… the perfect place to announce her return.

Bursting through the curtain, she began to laugh – then slowed, as she realized something was just not right.

Nopony was running. Nopony was screaming. And there was a giant banner announcing that 'the Elements of Harmony' were in Ponyville for the Summer Sun concert along with Celestia.

"Er…" Nightmare said, looking around and spotting the six ponies wearing Element regalia. "…wrong stage?"

A pink pony wearing what looked like her version of the Element of Laughter trotted over. "Yeah, I think it might actually be the wrong _night_. I don't know how you got confused, but the special Nightmare Night stage show isn't for another four months."

"Oh." Moon tried to play along. "Sorry?"

"It's good your costume is so well done, though. That'll be a great help." The pony smiled knowingly. "Tell you what, I'll walk you home later. Just sit in the audience with us for now."

Bemused, Nightmare Moon followed her off the stage. Somehow, she couldn't help but feel like this wasn't in the script…

* * *

3.6 (Metal Wolf Chaos)

* * *

"Hey, Twilight, what's on my appointments for today?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Uh… looks like you have an interview with diplomats from Saddle Arabia over scheduling a Wonderbolts show in their capital." Twilight replied.

Dash piloted her giant mecha forwards. "Sorry, I'll have to cancel that. I'm off to SAVE EQUESTRIA!"

As the robot went to town on an entire small army, Twilight rubbed her temple with a hoof. "Something is seriously off about this Loop…"

* * *

"GIIIILDAAAAAA!" Dash roared, surfing out of the sky on a hunk of metal.

"RAAAINBOW DAAAAASH!" Gilda roared back, igniting the jets on her own giant robot and rocketing up to intercept her.

Twilight quietly let herself out of her prison cell. "Honestly. Did someone let Dash write the script for this one?"

Though she had to admit, the gigantic energy cannon on top of Canterlot Castle was actually pretty cool.

* * *

3.7 (gen 2)

* * *

"Note to self." Twilight said. "_Stop having Discord try on the Elements of Harmony!"_

She crumpled up the paper she was working on, wished once more that she had a _horn_ in this Loop, and tried to work out what clothes wouldn't get her laughed at.

When she'd discovered that this Loop involved high school, she was cautiously optimistic. But then it had turned out that the actual lessons part of high school was almost irrelevant – instead, every other pony in the entire school seemed to consider dates, boys (or girls) and dresses much more important.

And for some reason every pony was bipedal, which felt _weird_.

Once more, she tried to use magic – both unicorn and otherwise – and came up blank.

"I wouldn't mind so much if the lessons were actually interesting… it's like someone made the school just for the dating…"

* * *

3.8 (Law and Order)

* * *

Detective Rainbow Dash looked over at her counterpart, as she closed the cell door. "So, was it him?"

"Yep." Detective Applejack replied. "It's him alright. But we kin hardly say in court that ah 'just knew he was lyin' with my magical honesty powers', can we?"

"Guess not." Dash kicked the wall in frustration. "I still say we should have kicked him around a bit."

"That ain't legal, Dash." AJ replied sternly.

"Yeah, yeah. At least we managed to get him in on suspicion."

* * *

"Right." Twilight adjusted her lab coat and glasses. "Okay, DNA analysis, fibre matching and a hoofprint check… that'll take a week or two."

"What?" Dash said, shocked. "You kidding me?"

"Well, if I actually had to use the equipment normally it would." Twilight lit her horn, and the computer began flickering through databases. "Good thing I can just use _magic_."

There was a _ding_ as the computer spat out a hoofprint match. The DNA analyzer was next, and began printing a list of concordances.

"Wonder how they do it on the human TV shows…"

"Ah think they just make it up, Twilight." Applejack said, deadpan.

"Oh, that's disappointing." Twilight picked up the sheaf of papers. "Right, that's a good match on the hoofprint, complete on the DNA, and the fibres are from the same batch of material. But that's all circumstantial."

"That'll be enough." Applejack grinned. "With _our_ prosecution lawyer."

It was nice to know more than Twilight about a given Loop for once – though if this were a CSI partial fusion rather than a Law and Order partial fusion (Twilight having identified the differences) then they'd have just been watching Twilight do everything _again._

* * *

"The prosecution may cross-examine the defendant."

"…thank you." District Attorney Fluttershy stood up, her wig slightly askew. "Now, mister Striking Sparks, I have an important question for you. Please listen carefully, and answer correctly... if that's alright, that is." She gave him a look. "You are accused of grand larceny of jewellery from the shop of one Rarity Belle. Did you do it?"

Striking Sparks stared back, looking straight at her. The defence lawyer frowned, confused by the tactics being employed by the gentle pegasus.

"...Yes! Oh, I've wasted my LIFE!" Striking Sparks broke down sobbing. "I did it. I stole all the diamonds I could carry from that shop! I hid them in a flat belonging to my brother-in-law at the corner of ninth and main, on the sixth floor, flat D. It's the sixth time I've stolen in five years, and I'll give you the list of where everything else went and who helped me!"

"Wow." Dash muttered, up in the gallery. "That's one hell of a Stare she has now."

"Yep." Applejack nodded. "Ah helped her practice it all last Loop."

* * *

3.9 (Power Rangers)

* * *

"Welcome, ponies." Celestia's voice boomed from some kind of magical portal in the centre of the room. "I have brought you here to become the Elements of Harmony."

All six Loopers looked between themselves, and eventually shrugged. _Meh, may as well go with it._

"I and my sister were caught in a time warp by King Sombra in the distant past. He is trapped, but his wife Chrysalis has been sending out bands of Changelings to attack Equestria." Celestia continued.

"Wait, hold on a second." Dash said. "_Wife?_"

"Yes." Luna replied from inside the same portal. "Their wedding was quite nice, actually, but the reception was when the vagabonds struck."

"Anyway." Celestia overrode her sister. "The six gemstones before you are ancient magical artefacts. You can use them to become the Elements of Harmony, and fight off the Changelings."

"What crystals?" Twilight asked.

There was a muttered argument in much quieter voices, then Celestia shouted again. "Spike!"

The dragon poked his head out of a door. "Yes?"

"Go get the Elements."

"Sorry…" he disappeared into the back room, and came out again a few seconds later with a pile of gemstones. "Ai yi yi…"

"Right." Celestia said, after they'd arrived. "Sorry about that. Now, er, take up the Elements, and save Equestria!"

Twilight moved forward, and picked one up in her magic. "I don't see we have much choice, really…"

The others followed her and picked up their relevant gems – each one a jewel cut stone, but the same colour as the Elements they were used to.

"Now." Luna added. "To transform, say-"

"NO." Celestia interrupted her. "You don't have to say Morphing Time, Power On, or whatever it was you were going to tell them! Just concentrate on the gem."

All six nodded, and the gems glowed in unison.

"I wanted them to be called the Pony Rangers." Luna sulked.

* * *

"Oh." Twilight said, staring up at the eighty foot tall Changeling standing in the middle of Manehattan. "That's new."

"Hey, Twilight! Don't be so upset!" Pinkie shouted from behind her. "Look!"

Twilight turned, and looked up. And up. And up again for good measure.

"We get a _giant robot!_" Dash and Pinkie shouted in perfect unison.

"…where'd that come from!?"

"Well, Spike gave us the keys to a garage after you left, and there were five giant robot animals in it! I just put them together like a jigsaw puzzle!"

"Now, Rarity!" Rainbow said, apparently driving the robot that was making the head. "Form emerald sword!"

"Can you even _do_ that?" Twilight asked, then blinked. "Huh. Apparently yes."

* * *

"I have returned!" Sombra shouted. "Now, _dearest_, why didn't you try to free me from the moon?"

Chrysalis gave him a toothy grin. "Well, you needed your beauty sleep, dear. A thousand years wasn't _nearly _enough."

"Oh, you are evil." The king tossed his head. "But I like you. For some reason."

"You only married me for my enormous horde of interchangeable minions." Chrysalis accused, then shrugged. "Eh. I'd have done the same. Now, where should we attack next?"

* * *

There was a _slam_, as Sombra bucked down the door of the Elements' base. "We have captured the pink one! Now, if you want her to live-"

"Want who to live?" Pinkie said, from behind the others.

Sombra sighed. "Chrysalis! Next time, capture one of the ones who isn't pink!"

"We already tried that with the purple one!" Chrysalis shouted back.

"Grah." Sombra turned to the Mane 6. "Which of you can NOT teleport, fly faster than sound, or otherwise easily escape?"

Everypony pointed at Rarity.

"Thank you for your assistance. We'll see you in a week or two." Sombra trotted out again, and was wreathed in black shadow which dissolved to nothing.

"Should we have told them that?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yep." AJ replied.

* * *

"This is hopeless!" Chrysalis said. "I mean, LOOK!"

Sombra followed his wife's pointing hoof. "Are those changelings… holding their hooves over their ears?"

"_No_. Chrysalis replied, simmering. "_Because they don't have them._ That batch don't have ears, and she's _still_ whining enough to annoy them!"

"Should we just send her back?"

Chrysalis nodded. "Go ahead. I give up. There's no point trying to capture them. Let's just try more giant armies."

"I did have a plan to make _evil_ Elements…" Sombra mused. "We could try that?"

After a pause, Chrysalis thwapped him with her wing. "That's stupid. But… actually… hmmm. Do we still have Discord's phone number?"

* * *

Two giant robots wrestled in the ruins of Canterlot.

Twilight trotted up a nearby hill. "Hi, Chrysalis, Sombra, Discord."

"Grah." Sombra said, then Chrysalis shook her head at him. "Sorry. Hello."

"Where did you get this idea from?" Before them, the Megalicorn picked up half of Canterlot Castle and used it as a bludgeon against the Dark Changewing.

Discord pointed at himself. "The giant robot was all _moi_."

"And Sombra here came up with the idea of negative Elements. Speaking of which…" Chrysalis looked around. "Where _is_ the Element of Dark Magic?"

Sombra burped.

"Oh, dear…" Chrysalis shook her head. "You just couldn't resist, could you?"

"Sorry."

There was an explosion of red magic, and Trixie appeared. "Trixie found a replacement!" The alicorn amulet swung from her neck. "And is this Trixie's counterpart?"

"Yep." Twilight nodded. "Look, can we skip the normal fight and get straight onto the giant robot one?"

Trixie mulled it over. "Trixie thinks this is acceptable. Wagonlord, form!"

A gigantic thing of wood and canvas rose from the ground, held in Trixie's telekinetic grip.

"Right… Spikezilla!"

Sombra turned to Chrysalis. "Don't you miss the days when battles were _small?_"

* * *

3.4 part 2 (expanded from Madfish)

* * *

"…And so, in her boredom, Princess Rainbow took to pranking the whole of Equestria, until a particularly humorous jape on the Elements of Harmony themselves resulted in them giving her a timeout on the moon. But it is said that after one thousand years pass she will return, completing her Final Joke of Doom."

Finishing reading that last line, the personal student of Princess Twilight, Society of Creative Anachronisms member and self styled 'Knight of the Arcane' Luna did the maths on her abacus. Checking it twice, she came up with a four digit number that she found extremely worrying.

"Forsooth!" she swore, grabbed the abacus and book with her telekinesis, and took off at a gallop. Somepony called out to her, but she shot past too fast to catch what was said. She was on a mission! Her liege needed to be warned!

* * *

"We must be prepared, Squire Spike! This must be a test of our ability; we will complete the tasks that will keep the expectant populace calm while our liege prepareths for the unknown Final Joke." Luna expounded.

"Prepareths?" Spike said, dubiously. "I don't think that's a word. And stop calling me Squire."

"But 'tis thy rank, is it not, brave Spike?"

"Well-"

The lengthy argument over the precise definition of 'squire' as opposed to 'armsdragon', 'courtier', 'page' and 'overly romantic unicorn' continued for most of the trip to Ponyville.

* * *

"The ponies who inhabit this town are truly unhinged." Luna said, shaking her head. "What remains to be done, Squire?"

Spike rolled his eyes. "The main remaining issue is the weather. If Princess Twilight's cometary display is to be properly seen, the weather has to be perfect."

"Verily." Luna nodded.

"That'd be my job!" A white pegasus landed next to them. "Hi! My name is Celestia. My special talent is to remove clouds from the sky. Watch!"

The pegasus flared her wings, darted into the air, and spun in place twice. Air shot out in lumps, smashed into various small clouds, and made them fall apart.

"There!"

Luna closed her mouth. "'twas most impressive, fair Celestia."

"Oh, you flatter me." Celestia shook her tricoloured mane. "Oh, are you here for the sky display?"

The unicorn nodded. "Indeed, though-"

"I love it!" Celestia said, speaking over the top of Luna. "Especially when the sun rises right at the end, and it makes the colours of the sky change from deepest black and violet right through the spectrum to blue!"

"…agreed." Luna looked over at Spike, unsure.

"But don't let me keep you." Celestia added. "I'll keep an eye out for you tomorrow."

In a blur of white, she shot off.

"That was strange." Luna muttered. "Another for the theory that ponies here are a little crazy." She spotted Spike snickering. "Er, ahem, I mean… lord, what fools these ponies be."

* * *

The six Elements of Harmony blasted their foe, enveloping Danger Dash in rainbow light.

When it faded, what stood there was a blue alicorn barely taller than any of the six Element bearers.

"It is done." Luna said, wobbling slightly on her hooves. "Repent, blaggard, or-"

"I hope you've learned your lesson."

Princess Twilight materialized abruptly in the hall, and every pony bowed automatically.

"Oh, rise, all of you." Twilight said, shaking her head. "All of you, in particular, deserve not to bow to me. You've managed to knock some sense into my sister, Princess Rainbow Dash."

"Twi." Dash said, staggering over. "Worst. Time. Out. Ever."

The purple alicorn frowned, a little put off. "How so?"

"The Elements kept me awake! All thousand years. Every time I dropped off to sleep, there was this _bzzz_ and they woke me up again! I just came back because I wanted to _shut them up!_" Dash ranted. "Now, get out of the way of that window. I'm going to go into my room, and I am going to go to _sleep_, and I am going to not come out again until… until… what's a good holiday after midsummer?"

"That'd be the Day of Danger, when we fire off fireworks by the tonne." Princess Twilight said. "It was supposed to be in memory of you, but I think it turned into 'we need to keep her distracted with shiny things so she doesn't prank us'."

"Right. That. Anyway, don't wake me until the Day of Danger, the one _after_ next." Princess Dash shot off at two hundred miles an hour, barely moving by her standards.

"Wow. She really _is_ off her game…" Twilight muttered. "Anyway, where were we?"

* * *

3.10

* * *

Celestia couldn't help but think something was a little off about her favoured student.

Not only had she found the Elements of Harmony with frankly slightly disconcerting speed, but she'd also assembled a team of ponies who were fully compatible with them so fast that she'd managed to catch Nightmare Moon _on the way down_.

Then she'd begun doing some extremely esoteric research into pegasus magic, material that Celestia found herself totally unable to follow. Something about "interferometry with standing waves of magic forming in the pinnules".

Still, at least she seemed happy. But it was getting a little worrying how vague her reports were about the occasional trouble going on in Ponyville…

* * *

Flim and Flam materialized with their cart in a large, grey-floored room.

"Oh, hello." A blue unicorn said, looking up and adjusting her large hat. "Trixie sees that Twilight Sparkle got disturbed when doing research again."

Next to them, a huge crate of food slammed to the floor.

"Right. Trixie will show you around. This is the mezzanine level. A large number of rooms are provided on the upper floors, and the lower floors are where the space suits are kept."

"The what?" Flim asked.

"Space suits. Did Trixie stutter?"

"Trix…" A griffin stepped out of a nearby door. "You have to _explain_ things to the newbies. Hi, I'm Gilda. This is a moon base, by the way."

"We're on the moon?" Flam said, shocked.

"Everyone – pony, griffin, or whatever – who annoys Twilight Sparkle too much ends up here." Gilda shrugged. "I have to admit, it _is_ pretty cool. And honestly… I pissed off a pony who teleported me to the _moon_, and provided a base. She could have done worse."

"Why are you so accepting of this?" Flim said.

Trixie pointed to some much larger doors. "That… would be the spaceship in the hanger over there. Trixie calls dibs on captain as soon as we have enough to crew it." She looked sullen. "Trixie could totally have run it by herself, but the computers demand a minimum crew size."

"Yeah." Flam said, after contemplating that with his brother for a moment. "That _is_ pretty cool."

* * *

"Er…" Rarity ventured. "Where _are_ you sending them all?"

Twilight shrugged. "Space camp."

* * *

3.5 part 2

* * *

Nightmare Moon stayed shrunk into her seat as much as possible the whole time Celestia was on stage, only beginning to relax when the elder alicorn finally left.

"So, er…" she cast around for a topic. "What do you all do, then?"

Apparently her conversation skills weren't great after so long on the moon.

"Well," the pink pony started. "I'm Pinkie Pie, and I'm in charge of Pie Enterprises. Well baked ideas for any occasion! Here, have a moondial."

Nightmare caught the strange device, which had a triangle on it. "…right. What do I do with it?"

"Put it on your lower foreleg, silly!" Pinkie said, holding up her own to demonstrate.

Still feeling a little silly, Nightmare complied. The triangle spun around a few times, then stopped, and cast a shadow despite there being nothing to cause it.

"It shows the time by using the position of the moon! Look, it has the phases, too!" Pinkie pointed to the orange pony next to her. "This is Applejack."

"Charmed." Applejack said, nodding to her.

"She's kinda-sorta-got a financial lock on the majority of farming in the country." Pinkie said. "I've seen her speak to farmers and Manehattan socialites in their own styles without missing a beat!"

The blue pegasus butted in. "I'm Rainbow Dash, _official_ fastest pony on the planet. I do space missions!"

"…how?" Nightmare asked, feeling a little overwhelmed.

"I fly up!"

Nightmare waited. "Wait. That's it?"

"Well…" Dash stretched the word out. "Twi _does_ give me that air bubble spell so I don't explode, but apart from that it's all me. I fly up there, drop off a satellite, and come right back down on my own."

The purple pony stepped in, seeing their guest a bit lost. "Satellites are something that sits in orbit and transmits or measures things – like radio."

"And you invented 'em, Twilight!" Dash pointed out. "Don't be modest. Wish you wouldn't give me so many geostationary ones to lift, though, that is a _long_ way up!"

Twilight shrugged awkwardly. "It's the best place…"

"Oh, sorry, I forgot." Dash took the conversation over again, making Nightmare look back and forth between them like she was watching a tennis match. "This is my best friend Fluttershy. She's usually the one who catches me when I come back down again."

"That's just a favour, though…" Fluttershy said. "Normally I work making sure the launch area is nice and clear, and sort out the logistics, and so on. It keeps me run off my hooves, but it's… good work."

"And I know you invent things…" Moon said, pointing to Twilight. "What about the Element of Generosity?"

"I'm surprised you don't know." The white unicorn said. "I am Rarity, Dressmaker and Crafter to her highness, founder and owner of the Rare Materials company and item enchanter extraordinaire. Dear, you _do_ look nice, but that regalia could be enchanted to increase the effect, you know. Make you a _much_ more visually stunning pony."

Nightmare Moon felt vaguely insulted. But it _was_ tempting…

"By the way." Twilight said causally. "Don't try anything, Nightmare, or we'll use the Elements." Nightmare stiffened in shock, but the six Element bearers stayed perfectly at ease. "So long as you're not harming any pony, you'll be fine. Hay, maybe you could try and work through your issues yourself."

"Heeey!" Pinkie all but bounced out of her chair. "Maaybe we could go out clubbing tonight! Dash usually does with me, but the others are all such boring stick-in-the-muds."

"…clubbing?" Moon asked, rolling the unfamiliar word around in her mouth.

"Yeah! Night clubs, you know?"

"This idea intrigues me." Nightmare admitted.

* * *

AN:

Part three!

(Apparently, Cadance ascended to alicorn by a particularly impressive use of her talent while colliding with a lump of "Crystal Heart" stone. I'm rather assuming the Elements are similarly capable, what with one thing and another.)

Some of these Loops would be quite neat AUs on their own, actually... if anyone wants to use them, do feel free.


	4. Chapter 4

4.1

* * *

"Right." Dash trotted back and forth in front of the other pegasi. "We have precisely six months until the Grand Galloping Gala. I want us all to be ready."

Lightning Dust sneered. "For what? I thought this was some kind of special flight camp."

Other pegasi nodded their agreement, or just rustled their wings awkwardly.

"I'm glad you asked." Dash crouched, shot upwards, and broke the sound barrier after about ten seconds before circling around, shedding speed again, and landing in front of them.

"That is the Sonic Rainboom. Now, the Dash Certificate of Awesomeness is only awarded to those who can pull off a Sonic Rainboom _on command._" The rainbow pegasus grinned. "Any other questions?"

"How the hay did you do that?" a pony halfway to the back blurted.

"Training. Meticulous training, and being awesome." Dash's grin didn't change. "Now, who doesn't want to be able to do that? Because you _can_ leave."

* * *

"No, no, no!" Dash shook her head in exasperation. "You're not going to break the sound barrier like that. You have to actually USE the weather magic. Make the wind push you, make it strengthen your wingbeats."

"…so _that's_ how you did that?"

Dash shrugged. "This isn't easy stuff."

Overhead, Lightning Dust flubbed a wingstroke and bounced off the sound barrier. Fluttershy caught her just before she hit the ground.

"Oh, right." Dash grinned. "Yeah, I did that at least a _dozen_ times before I managed to get it right. Don't worry!"

"The idea of screwing up a dozen times in a row isn't a nice one…" Dust muttered.

* * *

"And… go!"

One by one, fifteen pegasi dropped off the cirrus cloud. Successive _booms_ sounded across the prairie as each left their own individualized explosion of weather magic.

* * *

"Nice work!" Dash said later, to the exhausted ponies. "Tomorrow we just rest, because we're doing part of the entertainment for the Grand Galloping Gala."

"How?" asked Cloud Dancer.

"Hell if I know." Dash shrugged. "Twilight Sparkle gave me the details."

* * *

"Goodness, Twilight." Celestia said, watching as the instruments were moved into the dance hall. "That's a little much, isn't it?"

"Well, for the dance music, yes." Twilight hefted a carillon in a magical grip. "But I'd like to have a piece about halfway through using _all_ of these."

"What piece could possibly involve a carillon, a full orchestra and a pipe organ?"

The purple unicorn grinned to herself. "You'll see."

* * *

"Attention, everypony." Twilight said. "I would like to present a piece of music I researched exhaustively over the last year, the _Overture_."

Rarity looked glad of the distraction from Blueblood. Pinkie and Applejack, meanwhile, were comforting Fluttershy after having made sure she wasn't going to go after the animals this time.

Twilight's horn glowed, and the music began gently with strings.

* * *

Twilight was having a great deal of fun doing this, actually. Running an entire orchestra – especially doing two counterpointing themes at once – was tricky enough that it was hard for even her to manage properly.

_Maybe I could ask Rarity how she manages so much telekinetic control at once… I'd probably have to wait until she next Loops, of course._

The second theme built towards a crescendo. Unnoticed, she slipped in a little signal spell into the magic she was doing.

* * *

Dash spotted it at once. "That's the signal! Dust, go! Now Dancer, aaaand… Raindrops!"

* * *

Three explosions sounded over Canterlot in quick succession, making most of the listening ponies jump. Twilight grinned, and then got the carillon going. _You thought that was surprising…_

* * *

"And… now!"

Dash set the second fight of pegasi going.

* * *

The spectacular finale of the _1812 Overture_ blasted holes in the sky over Canterlot and shattered every window in the city.

* * *

"Well?" Twilight asked brightly, turning around to see every other pony in the building trying to hide under tables. "What did you think?"

* * *

4.2

* * *

"And that's why I think Cadance has become evil." Twilight finished, and cancelled the creation spell that had provided her slide projector.

Nopony said anything for a moment. Then Celestia frowned. "Twilight, my dearest student… are you sure you're not just jealous? I mean, your brother has apologized for not letting you know earlier-"

"I can prove it!" Twilight overrode her. "Dispel magic!"

The purple-tinged spell shot across the room, and hit a shocked Cadance.

Who detransformed, becoming Queen Chrysalis.

"Quod Erat Demonstrandum. Q.E.D." Twilight said. "Thanks for your confidence, by the way, guys."

All the others looked thoroughly embarrassed.

Chrysalis looked from the six Elements of Harmony, to the Princess of the Sun, to a rapidly recovering (and pissed) Shining Armor. "Er… I plead Queen's Evidence?"

"We don't have that law." Twilight said. "We do have laws against kidnapping, mind control, impersonation, all-up identity theft…" Twilight kept going for several minutes, "…and looking at you I think you're even in trouble for entry into the country without a passport."

* * *

4.3

* * *

"Right!" Twilight said. "I'm sure this'll work."

Element of Magic, check. Lump of Cosmic Spectrum stone, check. Alicorn Amulet, check. The Rainbow of Light, from that Loop with that nice Megan girl, check. Rainbow of Dark looted from Tirek in a different iteration of the same loop, check.

Hanging both Rainbows – one pouch, one locket – around her neck and then the lump of crystal, she put on the Element of Magic, transformed, took up the Alicorn Amulet, and came back to awareness in a gigantic crater.

In front of her were her friends – and Trixie, strangely – wearing five of the Elements of Harmony. A circlet with a wand on it graced Trixie's forehead, and they were all panting heavily.

Twilight looked around, then up – and noticed that the sky was full of gradually shrinking stars, returning to their normal sizes.

_Oh. Note to self, don't push your luck._

"…sorry." She muttered, glancing down at her feet and seeing the ruins of most of the magical artefacts she'd been wearing. "I kind of overdid it, huh."

* * *

4.4

* * *

Twilight nodded to Fluttershy. "Alright, 'shy, I've got a job for you."

"Y-you have?" Fluttershy said. "Okay. I'll give it a go."

Picking the Kindness necklace up from the floor, she handed it to Fluttershy. "Here. This has a spell attached to it which should keep you safe. Now, I'd like you to see if you can negotiate with Chrysalis."

"Eep!" Fluttershy flinched. "I… why?"

"I think you'll do fine." Twilight said firmly. "Remember, you've not let us down yet, in any Loop. And I'd like for the wedding to go smoothly for once."

Fluttershy mulled it over, then her face set determinedly. "I'll do it, Twilight."

* * *

"So." Chrysalis laughed. "A lone pony comes to us, speaking of peace and coexistence. Something we have not been shown in a thousand years or more from your Princess Celestia."

"Really?" Fluttershy said. "Do they know about you?"

"Clearly." Chrysalis replied sarcastically. "How else did you find us?"

"…actually, I was just seeing who built the building I saw from the air." Fluttershy answered, truthfully. After all, it might have been Diamond Dogs.

A few changelings looked quizzically at the yellow pegasus, feeling waves of universal affection rolling off her. She liked _all_ of them.

"Feh. Words." Chrysalis, and made to turn away. A ripple ran around the assembled changelings, and she stopped mid-movement. "Oh? How strange. It seems the hive has some affection for you, little pegasus. I may keep you around… for their amusement."

"Alright." Fluttershy said, agreeably. "If they feel that way, that's fine."

* * *

"I don't understand it, Twilight." Rarity said. "Fluttershy has gone missing. She wasn't at the spa for our appointment yesterday. Do you know where she is?"

"Don't worry, Rarity." Twilight soothed. "Fluttershy is fine. She's just making some new friends, that's all. She might be a while, I'm afraid."

"Oh. She mentioned she was going, but I didn't realize it would be for that long. Well, tell her to stop by the _second_ she gets back."

Twilight nodded, and Rarity left the library.

Dash looked up from her _Intricate Webber_ book. "That's totally not the whole story, is it?"

"Nope." Twilight replied easily. Ever since they'd shared a Loop as the Princesses, she'd felt closer than ever to the pegasus. Dash seemed to have the same comfortable familiarity with her, as well – a result of having been sisters-in-name for centuries. "Fluttershy _is_ making friends. They're just insectoid shapeshifters, if you get my meaning. And I sent her off with her Element, too."

"What – _oh_." Dash grinned. "Be nice to have her in the club."

* * *

As ponies took their places in the seats before the wedding, a cry of surprise went up from one of the guard detail. Others followed his pointing hoof, and then started to see it as well.

Shining Armor sighed, upset at the interruption and what it might mean. "Sorry, dear. I hope this is nothing."

"That's alright," his fiancée sighed. "I wish it hadn't happened, but it's not your fault."

She stole a peck on his cheek, and he gave a little silly grin before putting on his work face.

By now, the approaching objects were close enough to be seen by everypony. There was a loose cloud of black-looking shapes flying through the air towards them, with two slightly larger ones leading them.

Of the Element bearers not in on what was going on, Pinkie worked it out first. "Yay, Fluttershy's back! And she brought friends!"

Circling the field once, Fluttershy led Chrysalis and a hundred changelings in to land. The way her landing pushed up her hair made most of the watching ponies gasp – she had a small but still quite apparent _horn_ on her forehead.

Trotting up to Celestia and Luna with Chrysalis half a length behind, she bowed. "Princesses, may I present Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings, here to pay her respects to the happy couple."

* * *

Rarity pushed Fluttershy bodily towards Carousel Boutique. "You _really_ should get your mane done, darling, it needs to show off that horn _much_ better. And I need to make a dress for you – one suitable for a coronation, no less! Come on, you _do_ need these measurements."

"Um… okay…" Fluttershy said, skidding slightly on the floor. "I'd rather… no, never mind, if you think it's important."

Chrysalis watched with some confusion, and leant over to Twilight. "Is this normal?"

"For Ponyville? Yes." Twilight, Applejack and Dash chorused.

Pinkie was currently suffering from a mild case of party overload, trying to work out which event to celebrate first. "…Ooh, I could do the diplomatic reception… but that didn't go so well with the Buffalo. Maybe if I started small with the Fluttershy's Back party, and went straight into the Fluttershy's a Princess party…"

"Out of curiosity, how do changelings react to sugar?" Twilight asked.

"It's a useful nutrient, and we can eat a lot. It can substitute in for love for a little while – not that we've had any problems since Fluttershy showed up." Chrysalis said. "She is just remarkably… _nice_."

"Pinkie's going to like you." Twilight said with conviction. "Ask her to show you her Genocide By Toffee." Seeing the queen's reaction, she tossed her head. "It's not actually fatal… that is, if you stop in time. It should feed every changeling you brought, with some to spare."

"… that concept is actually strangely terrifying." Chrysalis muttered, watching the bouncing pink pony. "And yet I find myself suddenly hungry."

* * *

4.5 (Sonic)

* * *

_"In the world (her world!) where life is strong,_

_In the world (her world!) life's an open book-"_

"Can you stop singing!" Twilight snapped. "I know you like having you own theme tune this time, but come _on!_"

Dash shook her head unrepentantly. "I love this world! I thought you'd enjoy it too, Twilight!"

"Being eight years old is putting a dampener on it." Twilight adjusted the manifold to the piston engine on their biplane. "But yeah, I'm not surprised you enjoy a world where you have to run at four hundred miles an hour just to go shopping."

"They have _loop-the-loop roads_, Twilight!" Rainbow looked like she wanted to introduce them to Equestria. "The only downside is that Dr. Robuttnik. And I like kicking robots in half, too, so that's not all bad."

* * *

4.6 (Evangelion)

* * *

Twilight staggered against the wall of a railway car as she Awoke into what seemed a fairly high tech loop. "Oof! Ah, great, I'm human…"

"Hi. You sound new to this Loop," a voice said. She turned, memories of the Loop settling into place, and saw-

"What _is_ it with me and being the sister of human Anchors?"

"Oh." Shinji Ikari said. "So you're… Twilight Rokobungi, right? My half sister, this Loop?"

Twilight nodded. "Yeah. Equestria is my home Loop."

"Ah, you'll be familiar with this kind of thing, then." At her perplexed expression, Shinji elaborated. "We have giant robot fights here too."

For a moment, the normally-a-unicorn wasn't really able to make a sound. "Pardon? You think we have giant robot fights?"

"Well… yeah. I was in one of your loops. I mean, I stayed out of the way, but I was there alright. There was some giant robot… the megalicorn or something?"

Twilight slapped her forehead with her palm, staggering slightly as she got the hang of bipedalism again. "That wasn't our prime loop. Nothing close."

"It _did_ seem a little too 'Power Rangers'." Shinji agreed. "Right, come on. Time to get out of the danger zone of Lord Derpface the Easily Defeated."

He pulled on Twilight's arm, and she followed him at a staggering run out of the way of a flying machine crash.

* * *

"I don't get it." Twilight said, frowning.

"You are not required to understand." Gendo said, staring down at his daughter. "You are only required to obey."

"No, what I mean is, _why_ did the giant monster thing attack here? I mean, it is statistically incredibly unlikely that a giant monster with no understanding of language or humanity would come down one of the few places with _one_ convenient giant robot, let alone with _three_."

Shinji stood back, interested.

"We will discuss this later. If the Fourth Child will not obey orders, then the First Child will be used instead."

Twilight shook her head hastily. "No, I'm not… okay, look. I'm questioning your methods and motives, not the necessity of stopping that thing from stamping up and down on the city until it breaks. Excuse me… is it Doctor Akagi?"

The scientist nodded.

"Would I be able to look at the literature concerning those monster things? I might have a few ideas." With that, Twilight started walking briskly towards the gantry to Unit 03.

* * *

Twilight didn't listen to the briefing much. In fact, she wasn't really able to _hear_ much. Her talent with magic apparently extended to this artificial machine's 'AT Field', and she was able to sense _everything_ within a mile of her Unit's location.

_But ick. This is _not_ a robot. Just ewww…_

She finally noticed Sachiel, and grabbed it in a telekinesis-style AT grip before holding it fifty feet off the floor. "What should I do with this?"

Shinji was laughing himself sick in Unit-01, and everyone else was shouting about sync ratios.

"Um… don't know?" Misato eventually said.

"Just throw it into the sun!" Shinji gasped out through his paroxysms of laughter.

Twilight gave a mental shrug, and threw Sachiel as high as she could. While she didn't think it would make the sun, it _did_ seem to hit escape velocity.

* * *

"Only units 01 and 02 will be deployed on this mission." Misato said, pointing at Israfael.

"Why?" Shinji asked. "Twilight's doing fine, throwing Angels at the moon."

Asuka looked torn between being impressed and being upset. She'd been rather startled when Twilight made her Unit throw Gahgiel into space, but at least it was another girl showing her up.

"We're kinda getting complaints from the JSSDF that we're showing them up." Misato said, stifling a grin. "But orders are orders."

"Okay." Twilight shrugged. "I'll go chase up that classified information. Ritsuko owes me a favour anyway…"

* * *

Rei brought out the Lance of Longinus.

"Wait." Twilight said, incredulous. "We have an _anti angel melee weapon_ and you've not used it? Right, that's it."

Twilight opened fully to Unit 03, wrapped an AT field around it, and materialized in low earth orbit. She grabbed Arael and threw it at the moon, then caught the Lance as it went past. "Okay, I'm keeping this."

* * *

Lilith rose from the earth, and began Instrumentality.

"Does this happen _every_ time?" Twilight asked.

Shinji nodded wearily. "It's scary the first time, trippy the second time, and after that it gets kind of boring."

"Your Loop is weird. And I say that in full knowledge of how strange all the other Anchors would find a world inhabited mainly by ponies."

* * *

4.7 (from Filraen)

* * *

"Tia, wake up!" The piercing voice of her sister Luna woke Princes Celestia in her room at Canterlot Castle.

Had Celestia been in a clearer mind she would have given thanks that Luna didn't use the Canterlot Royal Speaking Voice, it was especially annoying to wake up to that. "Nnnrrgh, give me five minutes Luna. The Sun isn't even out yet."

A not-so delicate eyebrow rose on the Moon Princess' face "You _raise_ the Sun, Tia. Of course 'tis still night."

"All right Lulu, you win." And, yawning extravagantly, Princess Celestia raised herself from her bed. "Was there something important today?"

"We'll need to check preparations for the celebration for the Elements of Harmony bearers after defeating Discord... again" Luna answered with an annoyed-sounding voice; but Celestia knew better.

Both Luna and Celestia, due to being alicorns, had great magic power and amplified traits from earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns. More importantly, they were also well aware they were very long-lived in comparison to the other pony races, having seen their subjects live and die many times before. And while she had lived a long time, this relatively new "time loop" incident around Twilight Sparkle was most unusual.

Celestia then went to a nearby mirror to start brushing her mane, noting the amused look in her sister's face. The movement of the brush was calming, not at all like it was the first time she looped. She was so worried all her recent work was for nothing…

It had actually been Twilight Sparkle who informed her about the time loops. And while she was initially worried Equestria was in danger from some unknown force and worried as much again for the Element bearers as the Royal Pony Sisters weren't Awake often enough to protect them, she soon realized the loops were a blessing in disguise.

While Celestia may admit that was a selfish thought, the long years of her sister's banishment made her realize that effective immortality is only good if you can enjoy it with other, hopefully also long-lived, ponies. After her faithful student claimed the Element of Magic that fateful day, Celestia could enjoy it with Luna again, and now they could also share their long life with Twilight Sparkle and the other Element holders due to the time loops. However, should they get separated from one another, Celestia also asked them to write Friendship reports about those other worlds Twilight sometimes went into… those "pseudo-loops". It wasn't much, perhaps, but for Twilight to remember she would meet her friends and mentor again was all the help Celestia could give… and she was a bit curious on what those other worlds were like, after the loop in that Konoha place.

After finishing brushing her mane Celestia walked towards her sister, thinking how glad she was that the loops always started the day before the thousandth Summer Sun celebration – instead of, say, just after Nightmare Moon was imprisoned. _'Thank Harmony for small miracles'_.

Finally Celestia stood in front of her sister, looking directly at her. "Luna, can you do a little favour for me?"

"What would it be, Tia?"

Luna's level look lasted until her sister nuzzled her and said "The next loop we both are awake... would you be my sister again? No matter who we are?"

Luna just smiled, and nuzzled her back. "Always."

It was a good day to be alive.

* * *

4.8 (Any human self insert. Preference is "Hands" by AJT, I think.)

* * *

"I honestly have no idea how to solve this." Twilight said, looking at the unconscious human lying on Fluttershy's lawn. "I didn't know this could happen."

"Ooh! Ooh! I know!" Pinkie said. "You could make a conver-mmmph!"

Twilight's hoof had gone into Pinkie's mouth without her looking. "Let me make one thing clear, Pinkie. _We Do Not Talk About The Bureau!"_

"Mmkay." Pinkie mumbled.

After a moment, Twilight pulled her hoof out again. "Right. Now, there's a few options. We could put an illusion on him and pretend he's a Diamond Dog."

"That… could work…" Fluttershy mumbled.

Twilight nodded. "Only problem is getting him to go along with it. Second option is that we keep him out of sight."

"Booooring." Pinkie said flatly.

"Or we just let things happen and see how it goes." Twilight finished.

"Well-" Fluttershy stopped. "Do you hear… something?"

"…omigosh omigosh omigosh _omigosh_ I WAS RIGHT!" Lyra dopplered over the closest hill and skidded to a halt, throwing up big rooster-tails of dirt. "_You guys found a_ _human!_"

"Right." Twilight said, calmly. "Option three it is, then. Pinkie, go let Celestia know to ignore any reports of mass panic out of Ponyville in the near future."

* * *

4.9

* * *

"Twilight!" Spike said, as they Awoke. "What the hell-"

"Sssh!" Twilight said, then dropped a privacy spell around them. "Calm down, Spike."

"What the hell happened!" Spike said, unrepentant. "Last I remember, I was thirty feet long, couldn't talk, and you were a human!"

It took Twilight a moment to remember. "Wow, your luck isn't great. That was when we met Hiccup, which was _ages_ ago for me." Loop memories settled. "And it's Twi-gon Jinn, here. And you're Spiky-one Kenobi."

"Those are stupid names." Spike muttered.

"Stupid or not, they're what we've got to work with. Now, do you remember what we're supposed to be doing?"

"Yeah, I – yeah! That's really bizarre!" Spike took the lightsaber from his hip and looked at it. "Cool, I can swordfight now."

"Focus." Twilight reminded him. "We'll need to be – oof!"

A pulse of darkness rolled across the Force, as their ship was destroyed.

Twilight enclosed herself in a bubble of air as poison gas flowed into the room. Spike didn't catch what was going on, and took a sniff.

"Hmm. Quite tangy."

After a moment staring, the Jedi Master rolled her eyes. Of _course_ Spike could breathe poison gas. He could eat Baked Bads, this was nothing.

The door hissed open, admitting battle droids. Twilight sent them flying down the corridor with a telekinetic shove. "Come on, Spike, let's go register our disapproval with the accommodations."

* * *

"Alright, that is _it_." Twilight said, as Destroyer Droids rolled up. "Come on, Spike!"

With a flash, she teleported them both to the Naboo surface.

* * *

Applejack struggled woozily awake. "What th'hell happened to me?"

"Please be calm, you are still recovering." A voice said gently. Applejack's vision cleared enough to see it belonged to a human-like figure wearing bandages and goggle-lenses. "We found you near the wreckage of a crashed ship. There were no other survivors. Do you remember what happened?"

She scanned her Loop memories, getting a basic sense of how this Loop operated, and winced. Apparently she'd been captured as a slave by pirates or something…well, at least she'd escaped, if that was how you wanted to put it.

"Here." The figure reached behind itself. "There is something we found in the wreckage – it was the only other thing of value, instead of basic supplies and metal. You should probably have it."

Applejack's eyes lit up. _Well, I'll be darned. That's the Element of Honesty. Ah guess it followed me here._

"Thanks," she said, slipping the Element around her neck for safe-keeping. "How kin ah repay you?"

"I will admit that we do not have much in the way of surplus. Perhaps you could help us gather food and water?"

"All right." Applejack nodded. "Soon as you say ah'm ready, ah'll do it."

* * *

"So, how's Rarity doing?" Spike asked, slicing a battle droid in half.

Twi-gonn spun her saber telekinetically and deflected blaster bolts with a shield, then coupled it with a lightning spell. "Fairly well. She's using the Loops to try to find the perfect dress for every possible occasion."

"Neat." Spike finished off the last droid. "Right, everyone on the ship! You as well… Queen, right?"

"That is correct, my young padawan learner." Twi-gonn said.

"Twi, that sounds like I use a paddle to hit things."

* * *

"Right, let's see…" Applejack focused. There was that one loop she'd been blind, which had taught her a lot about earth chi, and then there was earth _magic_…

Breathing deeply, she took a stance and pushed. _Channel the energy. Don't try to provide it yourself, just act as a channel._

The Sand People watched, astonished, as an apple tree sprouted from the bare sand. It got to about four feet high before Applejack staggered.

"Ergh… sorry, I don't exactly have this all down yet. Ah'll give it another go tomorrow."

* * *

"No!" Spike shouted, as Darth Maul thrust his lightsaber into Twilight's body.

Then Twilight flashed purple, and exploded with magic that bounced Darth Maul off two walls and into a giant pit. When the flash blindness had worn off and Spike could see again, he saw Twilight with wings and a tiara.

His jaw dropped. "…wait, you can DO that now?"

"Whenever I want, pretty much." Twilight confirmed, then detransformed after checking her injury was healed. "Come on, let's get back to wherever the Queen is."

* * *

"So, how'd you swing _this_ with Yoda?" Knight Spike asked, looking across at Padawan Skywalker. "I mean, if we're still a team?"

"We are." Twilight confirmed. "I said that young Anakin would need both of us as guidance rather than just one master, because he's older than normal."

* * *

Twilight fretted as she paced on the starship. Having Spike go off on his own to investigate Kamino was worrying enough to her – never mind that he was an adult himself now, he was barely even a stripling by Looper standards – and now Anakin had managed to get them onto a trip to look at his mother's condition.

Admittedly, though, from what Hiccup had told her, she was lucky Anakin wasn't Awake…

"Coming out of hyperspace." Anakin said. "…huh. I think we got the wrong star system. That _can't_ be Tatooine."

"Why not?" Twilight asked, peering out the window.

"Well, look at it!" Anakin pointed. "It's… _green_. And that's an ocean!"

The Jedi Master levitated up a holonet comm. "No, this is the right system. Right planet, as well. And… oh, okay. You know how there's a million planets in the galaxy?"

Anakin and Padme nodded.

"Turns out that even interesting news doesn't show up if it happens in the outer rim. There's just too much to keep track of. This has been going on for years."

* * *

The H-type yacht landed in Mos Espa, now a city with verdant plant life everywhere the eye could see, and a party came up to greet them.

Twilight gaped, almost stumbling down the ramp. "_Applejack?"_

"Howdy!" Applejack said, grinning broadly. "Ah _thought_ y'all had to be somewhere. And you're a Jedi, eh? Can't say ah'm surprised."

"But… but…" Twilight gibbered, pointing between Applejack's wings and horn. "How?"

"Beats me." Applejack shrugged. "Happened about when ah'd managed to green the whole Jundland Wastes, and it made the rest of the job all much easier ah kin tell you."

"…right." Twilight started to recover. "Of course. Massive achievement involving trees, and earth magic and stuff. And if you have the Element of Honesty here, that'd catalyze it properly. Well, welcome to the alicorn club."

"Am I missing something, master?" Anakin asked.

* * *

Spike looked up defiantly at Count Dooku. "Twilight will take your entire separatist movement apart!"

"Oh, I don't think so, young Jedi Knight." The tall Sith stalked around Spike's force cage. "We are quite ready for one Jedi Master."

There was a sudden rumbling BOOM, and the top half of the Geonosian hive went flying, exposing them to the air. Two alicorns flew in, the purple one spinning two lightsabers by telekinesis and the orange one slamming her hooves into the floor to cause huge waves of earth and rock.

"…oh, you meant literally." Dooku said, in the tones of someone hoping he had spare trousers somewhere. "In that case, Chancellor Palpatine is Darth Sidious, please don't kill me."

* * *

"That was evil." Spike said, nodding in approval.

"I'm quite proud of it." Twilight agreed. She'd taken Darth Sidious and Darth Tyrannus, slapped Sombra-grade power limiters on them and dumped them on the surface of the forest moon of Endor. Let them try learning Ewokese…

"Oh, why did you get the Jedi Council to change the rules on marriage? And, er, _how?_"

"Basically…" Twilight tailed off. "_Why_ is because Anakin and Padme are clearly in love. _How_ is that I gathered up a list of all the Jedi who have had children. It includes a fair number of the founders of the order – like Nomi Sunrider and the whole Sunrider family – and one of the sitting members of the council, Ki-Adi-Mundi. But to really make my point, I printed it out. I used up the paper in that printer."

"Huh." Spike muttered. "So it just doesn't work."

"Yep!" Twilight said, then shrugged. "Besides, Cadance would try to strangle me if she heard I'd gone along with a Loop where love was _banned._"

* * *

4.10 (from Vulpine Fury) (first time in Gen 1)

* * *

Twilight sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror. The new coat colour was going to take some getting used to, almost as much as looking exactly like her mother in one of the 'normal' loops.

But then, this loop, it seemed, every first-born mare looked like her mother.

"Baby Twilight!" a grandfatherly voice called from behind her. "What brings you to the old Moochik?"

She seethed slightly at the "Baby." She was at least as old as the Cutie Mark Crusaders in a normal Loop, for Celestia's sake! She took a deep breath like _her_ Cadance had shown her and hoofed away the annoyance.

"Mister Moochik? Can you teach me?" He might not be Celestia, or even Cheerilee, but he was definitely at least as good as Professor Bastion Yorsets from Celestia's Academy. Far be it from her to pass up a magical education of any sort. Who knew? She might be able to apply some of the lessons when the Loops were over.

* * *

"Huh." Twilight said, looking from the book titled _Enemies of Ponyland_ to the enormous chariot-riding Centaur, Tirek. "This Loop might be a lot more fun than I was expecting…"

* * *

AN: Thanks as usual to the people on the SpaceBattles thread who've been helping me come up with ideas and contributing a couple of their own.

Also, Intricate Webber is a ponified version of David Weber. (Well, I think Dash would rather like military sci fi as her literary tastes expand... though for ponies it's probably more like military magitech fiction.)


	5. Chapter 5

5.1

* * *

"Okay, Spike." Twilight said. "Since this is your first time looping in a home loop, you get to pick where to diverge from the original timeline."

Spike pondered. "Hmmm… I kind of want to do something awesome… I know! Can you make a lightsaber?"

"No need." Twilight's horn flickered, and one levitated out of her mane. "One of the things Hiccup told me all Loopers eventually get working is a pocket dimension trick. He showed me how some time ago, and I shoved our lightsabers in there last time since I didn't have any yet."

Spike reached out his hand, concentrating, and his face lit up as the lightsaber left Twilight's grip and floated gently over to him. "This is so cool!"

He coughed, suddenly feeling embarrassed. "Right. Okay, are any of the others awake?"

"No." Twilight shook her head. "I checked. I'm guessing one of the next few loops I'm going to be having a run as one of the Royal Sisters, with AJ as the other one – that always seems to happen when somepony first ascends. But no-one is this loop."

"Good." Spike rummaged in the closet, found a belt, and threaded the lightsaber's detachable clip through it. "I'll let you know when I think of a good time."

* * *

Rarity vanished underground as the Diamond Dogs pulled her down.

_Right, now would seem to be a good time,_ Spike decided. He pulled his 'saber from the belt Rarity had made for him last month, for what he'd said was a torch, and took a two handed grip. Igniting it, he set his stance and faced Rover. "I won't let you ponynap Rarity."

Rover laughed. "You too little."

_Shii-cho. Sun Djem._

Spike _moved_, and when he stopped Rover had had a drastic manicure – his claws down to stubs.

"I dunno. I think I'm doing alright," he said lightheartedly.

"Uh…" Rover examined his lost claws. "How you do that?"

Spike shrugged. "Now, you _will_ tell me where your pack took Rarity." He waved his off hand.

Diamond Dogs were just about the textbook description of a weak mind.

* * *

"Really?" Twilight said, giving Spike a sardonic look after Rarity left. She'd spent almost twenty minutes gushing about how brave and dashing Spike had been in rescuing her. "You went with that?"

Spike grinned. "Hey, you _did_ say I got to pick."

Then his face clouded. "Oh, great. Do I have to go on the dragon migration every single time to pick up Peewee?"

"Nope." Twilight replied, happily. "_That_ problem I solved some time ago. I can pick up the right egg for you about the time of the Gala."

"Good." Spike breathed out, relieved. "Glad that isn't a problem."

"Though, speaking of that…" Twilight added, "I _do_ know roughly how to swing it so that Rarity asks you to go to the Gala with her. Only problems are, you have to spend over a year working on being as mature as possible and it'll be the one the year after next."

Spike considered that. "Yeah, sounds worth it. Okay, how do I start?"

Twilight slammed a giant tome down in front of him. "Memorize this."

"…did you ever manage to convince the non-looping me to do this?"

"Yep!" Twilight said. "Once or twice."

"And how many times did you try?" he pressed.

"I lost count." The unicorn shrugged. "A lot."

* * *

5.2 (Pokémon)

* * *

"You know, Fluttershy," Twilight said, sitting down on the side of Kanto Route 14. "I can't help but think you have an advantage here."

Fluttershy tickled a Shinx under the chin. "You're a good girl, aren't you? Sorry, what was that, Twilight?"

Twilight shrugged. "Never mind. But all I've caught so far is a Hoothoot, and that was when you were asleep. The Pokémon all head for you so fast I can never catch them."

"Well…" Fluttershy said, "At least you have your starter."

The Charmeleon that was Spike this Loop looked resigned. "Char."

Twilight made a face. "I can't actually _train_ Spike very well because of the same problem! We're having to rely entirely on battles with trainers, and that doesn't usually go very well."

* * *

"Hey, look, Twilight!" Fluttershy said, pointing at the Pokémon Blake had just sent out. "It's you when you're annoyed!"

Twilight's eye twitched as she looked between the Rapidash and her Pokédex screen. "That's just not fair."

* * *

"Wow." Twilight said. "It looks like you really _did_ manage to catch them all." Then, because she was still a pedant, added "well, not so much catch, as recruit."

Fluttershy beamed.

Twilight then gave a sour look at the Rapidash in the paddock, who had been joined by Ponyta, Cobalion, Virizion, Terrakion and Keldeo. "Though I can't help but think someone's playing a trick on us…"

Still, that they'd finished was nice. No more overenthusiastic kids throwing Poké balls at them…

"Ah, there you are!" Professor Oak said, causing a feeling of dread in Twilight's stomach. "I just got permission for the two of you to go explore the Kalos region!"

Spike – still one of Twilight's only three Pokémon, to go with her Noctowl and a rather incongruous Moltres – gave a resigned growl.

Here we go again, her Pokédex translated helpfully.

* * *

5.3: "Diplomancy" (Stainless Steel Fox)

* * *

This loop round it appeared that only Twilight herself had looped, the others had defaulted to their pre-loop memories. It had meant following the original path of events pretty much, though since she'd already known the answers, she managed to get make her friendship connections during the day she arrived.

She'd taken her new friends into her confidence shortly after they arrived at Pinkie Pie's welcome party, rather than wasting the whole night worrying and complaining. Pinkie found the Reference Guide, and as she'd hoped, they'd insisted on going with her to collect the Elements.

While things had been easier without Nightmare Moon attacking them, they'd still had challenges, and her friends' characters had shone through. The upshot had been, even without the others having their loop memories, when Nightmare Moon had finally appeared, they were all ready to give her a face-full of rainbow.

Still that didn't solve the current problem, Trixie had appeared right on schedule. However, Twilight had decided to try a different approach. For once, she'd try diplomacy. Her friends had reacted in their usual fashion, complaining about Trixie's boasting, but when Dash started to boo, Twilight cast a one way silence charm around her head and turned to face them.

"Guys I'm surprised at you! What's with all the hate? Her talent is stage magic, showy magic! Her boasting is all just part of the act! Rarity, when you create clothing, you show it off to its best advantage? Rainbow, I'd have thought you of all ponies would appreciate a good performance!

And Applejack, I know you don't boast about your skills, but you enjoy showing them off, don't you? How would you like it if someone started booing you in the middle of a rodeo? Let's just enjoy the show."

The stern look that accompanied her comment chastened the three ponies, and they quietened down. However, Spike loudly exclaimed, "But you've got more magic in the tip of your horn than she has in her whole body!"

Twilight winced as Trixie's voice carried over the crowd. "Well, well, well, it seems we have a neighsayer in the audience! Who is so ignorant as to challenge the magical ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie? Do they not know that they're in the presence of the most magical unicorn in all of Equestria? You, with your back turned!"

Twilight sighed and turned to face her. "That was my companion, Spike. I'm sorry if we interrupted your show, I was quite enjoying it. Your grasp of manifestation magic and illusions is quite good, and your practical application is first rate!"

Trixie preened. "Ha! So you admit no-pony has more magical power than the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

Her fanfare and fireworks went off again. Spike started to protest, but Twilight cast a zipping spell on his mouth.

"For only the Great and Powerful Trixie has magic strong enough to vanquish the dreaded Ursa Major!" She spun her usual tale of heroism, and suitably awed the surrounding ponies. Snips and Snails started their fan-colting rant and Twilight winced.

She made a mental note to watch Snips and Snails like a hawk. If she could head them off, she could prevent both the Ursa Minor attack and Trixie's humiliation, which should prevent the business with the Alicorn Amulet as well. Not that that was a problem in itself, alicorn Twilight could spank amulet enhanced Trixie both in magic, and physically, as she'd once proven with Trixie's own whip when the mare was being particularly aggravating.

"It's true, my enthusiastic little admirers. Trixie is most certainly the best in Ponyville. Don't believe the Great and Powerful Trixie?" The unicorn showmare chuckled. "Well then, I hereby challenge you, Ponyvillians - anything you can do, I can do better. Any takers? Anyone? Hmm? Or is Trixie destined to be the greatest equine who has ever lived!?"

Spike finally unzipped himself and complained. "Please, she's unbearable! Ya gotta show her, you just gotta!"

"I don't need to prove anything! Besides, it'll only cause problems later…" Twilight was interrupted by Trixie again.

"Hmm… How about you?" Twilight wrestled with her conscience as the mare hectored her. She wasn't worried about showing off her power, she knew her friends would understand, she just didn't want to get in a horn waving contest with the blue unicorn. "Well, how about it? Hm? Is there anything you can do that the Great and Powerful Trixie can't? Well, little hayseed?"

She saw Applejack start forward out of the corner of her eye, and that decided her. She'd done her best to avoid aggravating Trixie, but events still seemed to be playing out the way they had originally, and she was not going to let her friends get humiliated to save Trixie's feelings.

Her horn glowed and she teleported on stage alongside Trixie. "It's one thing to challenge your audience to a contest, another to show contempt for them! Ponyville may not be a city the size of Canterlot or Manehattan, but they are good ponies, not 'hayseeds'!"

Trixie took a few steps back. "What? How did… I mean, a simple trick, and I can accomplish easily!"

She stepped up to the curtain at the back of her stage, and disappeared in a cloud of smoke, then reappeared in another on the opposite side of the stage. Twilight didn't mention she noticed the tops of the curtains twitch as something moved through them each time. You probably wouldn't notice it if you weren't up there on the stage with her. The unicorn had also recovered some of her aplomb.

"You're a brave mare to challenge the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

Twilight shook her head. "I didn't come up here to challenge you, just to ask that you show a little respect to other ponies. I don't need to prove anything, and neither do you."

She remembered Dash's speech to Lightning Dust and hoped it might work better on Trixie. "I get that you're all about doing impressive magic, really, I'm a student of magic myself so I understand how much fun it is to demonstrate a new spell. But you don't need to make other ponies look small to make yourself look big."

"Hmmph! Who are you to tell the Great and Powerful Trixie what she can and can't do? Well, come on, show Trixie what you've got. Show us all."

"Told you, not interested. I'm just your regular run of the mill Ponyville citizen. Nothing to see here, move along..."

Twilight turned away, casting two hastened spells against Trixie's likely reaction. The first was a modified medical imaging spell she'd learned during a loop where she'd been a nurse at Ponyville General Hospital. The glow of her horn faded and winked out as the characteristic frequency shifted up into the X-ray region and flared off the tip. The second was a custom contingent pocket dimension spell she'd figured out. Unlike shield spells, it was invisible and undetectable until you triggered it.

There was a crackle of lightning and a yelp from Trixie as the approach of the lightning spark from the cloud the stage unicorn had manifested tripped the spell. It formed a Klein bottle pocket dimension with a surface incident to an incoming attack. The upshot was, anything aimed at her would end up reversing direction while still going in a straight line.

She suppressed a small smirk as she stepped down into the crowd, who didn't look to be particularly pleased with the blue unicorn. However, Applejack had already jumped upon the stage.

"That's it. I can't stand for no more of this! Twilight was defending you earlier, you stuck up mare, and then you attack her, from behind even! You're just plain mean!" The farm pony glared at the smug unicorn and said, "You want a challenge? You got one! Can your fancy magic powers do this?"

She hauled out her rope and did her party piece to oohs and ahhs from the crowd. "Ha! Top that you two bit trickster!"

"Oh ye of little talent," Trixie's hat floated off her head, revealing her glowing horn. "Now watch and be amazed at the magical power of Trixie!"

Twilight cast another spell, threading a tendril of her own magic into the telekinetic grip Trixie had of Applejack's discarded rope, carefully avoiding disturbing Trixie's weave. Of course, with the X Ray spell still going, there was no visible sign of her spell-casting, something that would have been impossible to hide with any ordinary illusion effect.

She let it grab an apple, but when it went to hog-tie Applejack, she tweaked it so it overshot, and wrapped around Trixie's legs. Before the unicorn could cancel her grip, she found herself hog-tied, with an apple in her mouth.

"Well, I gotta say, that is pretty amazin'!"Applejack chuckled as the rest of the audience burst into laughter. Trixie untangled herself and jumped to her hooves, glaring furious over at Twilight.

"You! You must have sabotaged the Great and Powerful Trixie's spell somehow!"

Twilight yawned. "Was my horn glowing? Did anyone see my horn glowing? How could I affect your spell without casting one of my own? Not to mention that kind of fine control without you noticing it would require an incredible level of skill. Maybe your conscience just got the better of you."

Rainbow Dash was laughing loudly. "He he he! Hey Trixie! Just as well you got yourself an apple for the teacher, 'cause you just got schooled!"

"Oh yes, you technicolor trollop?" Trixie sneered. "Maybe you think _you_ can show me something worth my time?"

"Ha, I know so!" Dash took off, and pulled off her Rainbow Road stunt. At the end, surrounded by a sparkling rainbow corona, she posed and stated, "They don't call me Rainbow, and Dash, for nothing!"

"When Trixie is through, the only thing they'll call you is loser." As the stage unicorn grabbed hold of Dash's rainbow, Twilight countered by pushing a thread of magic through her connection to the elements and into Dash via hers, temporarily giving Dash access to her alicorn form's level of toughness and speed.

This time, as Dash was spun and hauled up into the air, she blasted free at the peak of her loop, coming out of the spin in seconds. Unused to her new level of power, she slammed instantly through the Rainboom barrier and created a rainbow coloured shockwave that spread out over Ponyville.

Dash slammed back down onto the stage like a thunderbolt, grinning madly and punching the air with a hoof. "A Sonic Rainboom! Yeah! That was a rush! I never figured I could use a tornado rather than a power dive to give me the boost I needed!"

"But that wasn't..." Trixie was still stunned. "You were..."

"Awesome, as usual!" Dash grinned, "But I couldn't have done that without your spell. Maybe you aren't so bad after all. Tell you what, call it a draw."

As she flew off stage, Twilight threw another pocket reflector around the cyan pegasus, but this time, Trixie was still so flabbergasted she didn't follow up with another thunderbolt. As Dash landed, Twilight said, "I'm proud of you Dash, the way you handled that. You showed you were the bigger pony, not rubbing her face in it."

The cyan mare rubbed the back of her head, looking slightly bashful. "Aww, after all, she did help me pull off an awesome stunt! Besides I figured if you were trying to avoid a scene, I should help. The truth is, I felt like you were there with me, all the way."

Twilight felt along their connection, and was surprised to find that her tampering had permanently pushed Dash into a slightly more mature state. It was likely she'd be able to trigger a Sonic Rainboom reliably from now on, and might have fewer other problems.

Trixie showed her spells included eavesdropping, as she declaimed, "Aha! You were interfering again!"

Twilight sighed, "Not this again! All that power, all that speed, that was all Dash." The literal truth. "But you're right, I was up there with her all the way. But the only magic I supplied was the magic of friendship." Also true. "You should try it some time."

"Grr! That's it! I demand you come up here and face me yourself!" Trixie exclaimed. "You talk a lot, but I don't see you putting your magic where your mouth is!"

"That would involve me sticking my horn in my mouth. Unhygenic, not to mention physiologically impossible." Twilight mused. "Look, everyone's had a good time, you did show some pretty fine telekinetic control on that rope trick, not to mention grabbing that rainbow, something few unicorns could do. I'm sure Applejack will call her challenge a draw too."

"If you ain't bothered by that sneak attack she pulled sugar-cube, I'll be happy to." Applejack responded.

"You see? Call it quits, and everyone goes home happy."

"Stop being so... so... reasonable!" Trixie ranted. "I want a proper challenge, and that means you!"

Spike called out. "It's about time! Go on Twilight, show her what a real unicorn can do!"

"Spike, I really don't want to do this." Twilight said, but he wasn't the only one. A lot of the crowd were with him. She cancelled her X-Ray conversion spell, and stepped forward.

"Very well, if this is the only way we can resolve this, I guess I have to. Guys, I hope you won't think I'm showing off, but she seems immune to reason, so it may be the only way to get through to her is to beat her at her own game."

She stepped up on the stage. "Okay, shall we get on with it?"

Trixie sneered again. "First, I want to know who I have the pleasure of beating today."

"The name's Twilight Sparkle, I run the local branch library and study magic."

"Ha! A bookworm egghead! There is no way you can match the amazing, show-stopping ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

"If you say so." Twilight shrugged.

"Watch in awe, as I draw on my vast magical power..." Her horn glowed fiercely, and the stage started to creak. She started to sweat, and the whole wagon lifted up into the air several hoof lengths to the oohs and ahhs of the crowd. "... do you give up?"

Twilight nodded approvingly. "That is pretty impressive. Very few unicorns can levitate this much mass."

Her own horn glowed and the entire platform shot up another dozen feet. Then it started to rotate until it was inverted, with the two of them standing on the underside. "I just happen to be one of them."

Trixie was so surprised, her horn's glow faltered, but the platform stayed steady as a rock. She gasped and looked down in fear when she realised what she'd done, but she was still stood on the stage as normal, even if the sky was underneath her and the ground overhead. "How..."

"Reverse gravity spell. Never know when you might need it." Trixie looked ill, and Twilight took pity on her, returning the wagon to the ground, the right way up.

Trixie recovered herself. "So, you have some small skills after all, but can you do this?"

A bunch of flowers appeared hovering in front of her, and streamers of flags burst forth from within them, swirling around Trixie in colourful, ever-changing patterns.

"Nice manifestation. It's so real I can even smell the scent!" Twilight said approvingly. "How about adding these."

Butterflies started appearing among the streamers, giant monarchs, tiger moths, fritiliaries, all weaving in and out, wings iridescent in the sunlight. They perched on Trixie's flowers, almost covering them. She'd considered summoning parasprites, but had decided that would be too mean spirited. The trick was to beat Trixie without embarrassing her too badly. "Manifestations, not simply summoned."

The distinction might be lost on the audience, but Trixie should know manifesting animate creatures was harder than for plants or non-living flags. Trixie's items vanished, and she cried out, "Very well then! Try to match these!"

A spectacular fireworks display appeared overhead, flashing and sparkling.

"So, Evocation next?" Twilight asked. "Fire, and we've already seen you do lightning. How about water then?"

Hogwarts had been fascinating, and broadened her horizons. Adapting the Agumenti spell had been a simple enough project. A jet of water spouted from her horn, spraying out in a fountain. It puddled neatly around her in a ring, and rose up, forming into the shape of a pegasus which started to trot around the stage.

"Cold is good too!" A carefully shaped Cone of Cold froze it in place, rearing with it's wings outstretched.

"I notice you didn't try to do fire!" Trixie said, dismissively. "What's wrong? Too hot for you to handle?"

The statue exploded outwards, and in it's place was a similar shape made of fire, which flapped it's wings and rose into the air, leaving behind hoof prints burned into the deck. "Not really, I just didn't want to damage your stage."

There was hoof stomping and wild cheers from the audience as they watched the two unicorns match wits and magic. Wire frame illusions of Trixie's were countered by full colour images of Twilight's, her shield spell was tested by a fireball of Trixie's, while an irresistible dance enchantment was cancelled by Twilight's fail-safe spell.

Twilight countered by casting a want it-need it spell on Trixie's hat, but one targeted at Trixie alone, which led to an amusing scene of Trixie hugging her hat to herself, stroking it and calling it 'my precious'. Finally, a fed up Trixie conjured chains and a box and bound her in it, locking it with many locks, which did no good, as Twilight was still able to teleport.

In return, when Twilight reappeared, she decide to show off a spell she'd figured out from something she'd heard human magicians did. A box appeared around Trixie's body, her head poking from one end, her tail from the other, and her legs sticking out the bottom. It was supported by two wheeled stands, and split into two sections, each with the sides cut out to show Trixie's body was still inside.

Twilight cast a paired dimensional portal along the centre, then conjured two wooden dividers that dropped into place between the halves, to the shock of both the crowd and Trixie. Twilight pulled the halves apart and spun them so Trixie was looking at her own tail. "You might want to add this to your act."

"I can't..." Trixie slumped. "... I surrender! Put me back together! Please!"

"Okay." Twilight reversed things and Trixie was soon back in one piece. The stage unicorn turned to the crowd. "The Great and Powerful... That is all for today. The show is over!"

There were groans and cries of more, but her friends helped get the crowd moving.

Trixie was looking at Twilight as if for the first time. "Who are you, really?"

"Exactly who I said I was. Though I may not have mentioned that before I came to do research here in Ponyville, I was a student at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Princess Celestia's own student actually."

The blue unicorn slumped ion the floor of the stage. "You tricked me! All the way from the beginning. Now I'll never be able to show my face in Ponyville again!"

Spike had come up on stage and added, "Yeah, you really showed her Twilight!"

Twilight frowned. "That was never my intention. I kept on offering you a way out, and I meant it. If you'd been willing to let things lie, we could have all walked away happy. Besides, all anyone will remember tomorrow was that the two of us put on a great show. Anyway, I would genuinely like to study your techniques. You're self taught?"

She knew the answer, having gotten Trixie very drunk on Applejack's best cider in a previous loop. Trixie was just as talkative in her cups, if not more so than usual. However, all she got right now was a nod.

"Then maybe an egghead bookworm can help you fill in the gaps. I'm sure you could learn that 'Dividing a pony in two' effect for a start. It's just a pair of linked dimensional portals. I'm sure you could use it in your act."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Trixie asked, and Spike echoed it. "You know I was trying to show up you and your friends."

"I already told you, you don't need to make others looks small to make yourself look big. You're better than that. Princess Celestia sent me here to study the magic of friendship, and that's the most powerful magic of all. So which is the better option? To humiliate you and send you packing, a laughing stock? Or to help you become better, become something more, and hopefully gain the friendship of a talented unicorn in return?"

"You'd do that for me?"

"Uh... yes!" Twilight's expression made it clear that her hesitation was purely for effect. "I love my friends, and I love spending time with them, but I can't really talk about my studies with them. In Canterlot, I spent all my time studying, and no time making friends, and it's only now that I realise what I missed out on. The only ponies I can really talk to about my magic studies are the Princesses. Well, Luna and Celestia, anyway."

"You know... oh, you said didn't you. But what about Princess Luna?"

"I helped her out a while back. We've stayed in touch."

Spike snorted. "For 'helped out' try freed her from Nightmare Moon and saved all Equestria from eternal night! She's also the Bearer of the Element of Magic."

"Spike!" Twilight huffed. "It was a team effort, and besides there was a whole destiny thing going on. I don't make a big thing about it, some of the other Bearers would die from the attention. So I'd ask you not to spread it around. I just want to be let alone to be with my friends and do my research. So, the offer's open..."

Trixie was wide-eyed. "You are an unnatural pony, Twilight Sparkle. You have the ears of the Princesses, and you could be one of the most famous ponies in Equestria, nay, the world! But you are happy to live here, in this village, almost unknown."

"Different harmonies for different ponies. I know you'd enjoy the fame, but I wouldn't."

Trixie hung her head. "The Contrite and Eager to Learn Trixie would be only too glad to study with you."

Trixie had spent several hours with Twilight, running through some theoretical basics, and as a reward, getting taught the portal spell Twilight had used. She'd returned to her wagon, and Twilight was just finishing off her nightly observations. Her plan had been a stunning success, and she only hoped that Trixie would end up being aware of the loops.

She'd felt a new bond of friendship forming, still weak and nascent, so the possibility existed. As the local anchor, she seemed to affect which ponies were able to loop, and friendship definitely had something to do with it. However, there was something niggling at her, like an un-ticked box on her check-list.

A roar suddenly reminded her, and a quick glance from her vantage point on the observation deck confirmed it. She winked down to the ground and kicked in some alicorn speed to head towards where the Ursa Minor was heading for Ponyville. Hopefully she could get there before... There was a crunch in the distance as the Ursa Minor stepped on Trixie's wagon. She saw Spike approaching and scooped him up en passant.

"Twilight, we've got a..."

"I know, I saw."

She skidded to a stop as Snips and Snails egged the unicorn on. She saw Trixie take her stand with the Ursa roaring in her face, and say, "Uh, okay, stand back!"

Trixie's rope trick failed as Twilight knew it would, but by that time she was up alongside the other unicorn. "Huh, you don't see that every day. Need some help?"

"Uh uh!" Snips called out. "She's the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

"Yeah! She defeated an Ursa Major all by herself, she doesn't need your help!" Snails added.

"Yes! Yes, I do I do I do!" Trixie exclaimed. "I just made that story up to make myself look better! No-one can vanquish an Ursa Major!"

"Made it up?" Snips and Snails chorused freaking out in stereo.

"Then it's just as well that's an Ursa Minor, a baby."

"That's a baby?" Trixie squeaked.

"Yep, looks cranky too. Someone must have woken it up and brought it here. But that would require a combination of insane luck and abject stupidity bordering on the imbecilic!"

Spike just pointed at Snips and Snails, while the Ursa, clearly feeling left out of the conversation, brought it's head down and roared again.

Twilight sighed rather theatrically. "Right... Trixie, ready for a practical exam?"

Her horn glowed and she cast the lullaby spell, flaring her magic so it touched Trixie through her still weak friendship link, letting her feel the spell weave. "Feel that? Think you can take over?"

The music started to affect the Ursa, and it stopped roaring.

"Yes, but what are we doing?" Trixie's magic flowed out, taking over as the Ursa's eyelids drooped.

"Sonic enchantment, a number 16. Your story made me curious, so I did some research. It looks like some spirit, but it's actually a magical beast, though it does have an astral sub-type. That means it's toughness and strength are off the charts, so direct physical attacks won't cut it.

"It also has a degree of resistance to energy type magic attacks, and some general spell resistance. However, it's will isn't so hot. So enchantment and illusion spells work best, and using a sonic medium rather than a direct casting makes it harder for the spell resistance to stop."

The Ursa's eyelids were drooping, and it started to sway. "Okay, if you can keep it pacified, I'll get it back where it belongs."

Trixie's eyes widened, "You can't mean..."

The Ursa started to topple over, and Twilight caught it with her magic. With Trixie maintaining the lullaby, she didn't need to give it a bottle. Admittedly, she could have done it all by herself, but she was trying to avoid showing too much power.

"Let's go!" Her horn glow intensified, and the Ursa, curled up and looking almost cute, was lofted over the rooftops in the grip of Twilight's power. "Manifest one of those clouds down on the ground, okay?"

Trixie dropped the lullaby for a second to manifest a storm cloud, then caught it and restarted it before it had faded completely. Twilight's horn pulsed, and their hooves glow. She jumped up onto the cloud. "Now hop on. Cloud walking spell."

Trixie climbed on more gingerly, and tested the soft but supporting cloud underfoot. "Good, guide us after the Ursa."

The Ursa was delivered back to it's cave, and the trio returned on Trixie's cloud. Many of the ponies of Ponyville were up and about, including her friends. Trixie couldn't resist finishing off the music with a triumphant little flourish.

"Whoo!" "Unbelievable!" "Amazing!" "Trixie did vanquish the Ursa Major." "Yay for Trixie!"

Twilight jumped down alongside Trixie, but said nothing. For a moment the other unicorn posed proudly, head high, then glanced aside at Twilight and relaxed into a more normal posture and sighed.

"I may have... exaggerated a bit on stage for effect. The Great and Powerful Trixie is not quite that great and powerful. Trixie may have helped, but it was Twilight who lead the way, and did most of the work."

Twilight grinned. This was beyond her best expectations. "It was a team effort, and what she doesn't say is that she was ready to take it on alone until I showed up."

"Whoee!" Applejack exclaimed. "And there I was figuring she was all hat and no cattle. I'm sure sorry, Miss Trixie. I take my hat off to you, miss. Any-pony who can impress Twilight is a good apple in my book."

"Thank you!" Trixie looked genuinely pleased and happy until she saw... "My wagon!"

Twilight gave Snips and Snails a frown. "I think you owe Trixie a major apology!"

"Yeah, an Ursa Major one!" Spike quipped.

"We're sorry oh great and powerful one!" "We just wanted to see some awesome magic!" "And the way you and Twilight vanquished it was awesome!"

The two colts prostrated themselves in front of Trixie. "We deserve whatever punishment you give us."

Trixie glowered at them for a moment, then glanced over at Twilight again and smirked. "Very well, you can be my assistants for my show, when my wagon's fixed. I have some new tricks, experimental ones, that I want to try out."

"Yes, oh great and powerful one!" "Cool!" It seemed this particular punishment didn't hold any great fear for the pair.

"Actually, Trixie, if you're up for another new spell, maybe we can do something about that." Twilight stepped over beside her.

"But look at it, I'll have to utterly rebuild it!"

"Not necessarily." Actually, Twilight felt bad about it. If she hadn't gotten distracted training Trixie, she could have headed this off. "While the bonds between ponies are strongest, you can love and care for other things too. Your cart wasn't always wrecked. Envision it in your mind, as it was when it was brand new. Smell the fresh paint, the wood, see the stage, the decorations... Do you have it well in mind?"

"Yes..." Trixie was actually starting to tear up.

"Good, now push that image into your magic, and push it into the wreckage. Tell it to go back to the way it was."

A beam of lavender energy blasted from Trixie's horn, and the pieces of the wrecked wagon were thrown into the air, to swirl around in a vortex of energy. They fused together, shards and splinters slotting seamlessly into place, and eventually the spinning slowed down to reveal a fully restored wagon, shining in the moonlight to the awe of the crowd.

"Oh, thank you Twilight!" Trixie surprised the other unicorn by giving her a hug.

"You did all the work." Twilight gave an honest smile. Now this was a better way to end up than having Trixie running off, swearing vengeance. "I'm guessing Pinkie will have a 'you vanquished an Ursa Minor' party before too long."

"Pinkie?"

"You'll see..." she grinned.

* * *

5.4: "Turning the Tables" (Stainless Steel Fox)

* * *

Twilight awoke staring at her usual reference book. Her local memories cut in, and she decided this was pretty much a vanilla loop. She reached out to check something and found that Princess Celestia hadn't looped, not unexpected. She'd decided the next opportunity she got to prank the Princess and this was it.

She was well aware of Celestia's habit of using pranks to teach life lessons, and had decided to turn the tables for once. The Princess had left a lot of things to chance in the way she'd manoeuvred Twilight into defeating Nightmare Moon, and this loop Twilight was going to call her on it.

She stowed the book and headed for her study. On the way, as always, she met Twinkleshine and her friends, as normal.

"There you are, Twilight! Moondancer is having a little get-together in the west castle courtyard. You wanna come?"

Twilight gave a pleasant smile. "I'd love to. But I have to study right now. I 'll do my best to get over there later."

Leaving the stunned ponies behind, she smirked. The game was afoot.

Twinkleshine finally managed to close her open mouth. "Did Twilight Sparkle just accept a party invitation?"

Carefully entering the tower room that was her study, she avoided bouncing Spike off the walls and wrecking his gift. "Hi Spike! For me? You shouldn't have."

"It's for Moondancer…" The little dragon looked at her oddly.

"Oh, that party they were talking about?" She pretended to give the matter some thought.

"You know I don't normally have time for that sort of thing…." Seeing Spike's tail droop, she added. "But I guess there's nothing time critical about a bunch of ancient legends. Okay, Spike take a letter."

'Dear Princess Celestia,

I'm writing to you to request continued access to the restricted archive. As you know as part of my continuing studies on pony magic I have been working on a research project on ancient legends. I had hoped to complete it before the Summer Sun Celebration, but my friend and companion Spike wishes to go to a party being held by Moondancer this evening. As his guardian, I feel that I should go with him. Of course, then there will be the preparations for Summer Sun Celebration, and it's likely to be impossible to get any work done until after that.

As you know, my studies are my paramount concern, and I don't want you to think I'm making light of the honour you gave me in making me your student, or the unique opportunities for study you've provided me. However Spike is important to me too, and putting aside my studies for one night is a small thing compared to making him happy.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.'

Spike had stopped writing half way through, as flabbergasted as the students earlier. "You'd do that? For me?"

Twilight felt genuinely shocked and sorry at his surprise. Had she really been so insensitive in the base timeline? "Of course! You're my number one assistant, and my best friend. And if you're that surprised by the fact, then this is long overdue!"

She repeated her message so Spike could write it down, and got him to send it. Of course, now she'd made the commitment, she realised it was something she should have done long ago. Awake or not, Spike deserved it, and one of the few things she'd never done was actually gone to that party.

She was very interested to see how the Princess would react. Without Twilight finding the Mare in the Moon prophecy on her own, she'd be in the position of having to either order her to continue her studies, which would then make it impossible to do the whole 'stop reading those stuffy books and make some friends' line, or find some other way to guide her to the same end.

* * *

AN:

This set's a bit unusual, because there's only four of them. That's because Stainless Steel Fox from on here provided one ridiculously long one and one somewhat shorter one. So thank you to him.

(Go read his fics, they're very good.)


	6. Chapter 6

6.1 – the Lunaverse

* * *

Twilight blinked awake. "Oh. Hmmm, large wagon stuffed with books… ooh, maybe I'm replacing Trixie this Loop. That might be fun-"

At that point, the Loop memories arrived.

"WHAT?" The shout almost shook the wagon. "Okay, no. No way in Tartarus am I going along with _this_ loop."

Luna being the reigning Princess? Fine. That had happened before.

Trixie, not her, being the Element of Magic? Entirely sensible. No problems there.

But her being obsessive about the technical definition of magic? Having grown up an orphan, with Shining apparently having taken no hoof in her life?

_Like. Buck._

* * *

"Hi."

Trixie, Element of Magic and Student of Princess Luna, turned. "What is it?"

"Oh, well, I'm Twilight Sparkle. Kind of a fan, actually, but anyway – I had a question. Those Elements of Harmony? Ever tried setting them to broad beam?"

Trixie frowned. "Do what?"

"Broad beam. As per the paper by Lucky Strike in seven-thirty-four, any harmonic effect spell can be set to a number of modes from narrow beam to continent cleanse, as they're refinements of the original area-burst effect made use of by Clover, Pansy and Cookie at the Founding." Twilight rattled off magical formulae, parading out academic papers in front of the increasingly bewildered Trixie. "…so if you induce a deliberate harmonic of 14 hertz on the primary element and 15-20 inclusive on the others, it should produce a cresting-wave form which spreads to cover an area of reasonable size, and hence catch any quiescent or otherwise unnoticed corruption of any type in the area. And, well, better safe than sorry and all that."

"…sorry, did you have a point?" Trixie asked. "I lost track less than half way into that."

"But I thought you were Princess Luna's special student?" Twilight asked, puzzled. "This stuff is final year optional material at the academy, admittedly, but I read the syllabus and it's on one of the most often taken secondary modules. You… didn't take it?"

"No." Trixie replied. "I focused more on practical applications of magic, thank you."

"Huh." Twilight frowned. "That's actually very disappointing. Well, sorry to trouble you." With a flash, Twilight disappeared, leaving her notes and papers.

Trixie blinked. _I didn't even feel a magical signature from that teleport… it just happened._

Maybe this Twilight _was_ onto something… it couldn't hurt to look, she supposed…

* * *

"…so, long story short, there's a big difference between working hard and actively trying to push out all competitors." Twilight explained to Applejack. "It's just not conducive to good will, if nothing else."

"Well, _that_ explains a whole lot." Applejack said, looking into the middle distance. "If they'd only gone and told me that instead of carryin' on about _that_ ah was wrong, ah'd have had a lot better idea what they were after tryin' to say."

Twilight shrugged. "Glad to help."

* * *

"What the hell are you doing asleep!"

Dash jerked awake, and looked over to see a purple pegasus with her forelegs crossed, hovering next to the cloud.

"Who are-"

"You're Rainbow Dash, right?"

"Yes!" Dash replied, confused. "Why?"

"What did you get your cutie mark for, _sleeping?_ You're an athlete, not a lazybones!"

Stung, Dash made a grab for her tormenter, who slipped easily out of the way. "Hey, get back here!"

"You're supposed to be _fast_." The pegasus stuck her tongue out. "Make me."

Seeing red, Dash launched herself forwards.

* * *

Twilight grinned, pumping her wings hard. This version of Dash was a layabout, which made frankly _no_ sense given she still had the rainbow-thunderbolt cutie mark indicating that she'd broken the sound barrier in the past. Twilight had the sense her friend had slipped into a destructive spiral at some point in the past, like Applejack and the others.

And when Dash went into a destructive spiral, there was precisely one way to get her out of it.

Going into a spin, Twilight shaped the weather magic around her, then flared her wings and dropped abruptly out of the chase. Dash, startled, overshot and kept going – into a horizontal tail wind Twilight had set up.

_BOOM._

"My work here is done." Twilight grinned, transitioning through alicorn and back to unicorn. "Now, where's Fluttershy…"

* * *

"Why are we doing this?" Lyra asked.

Trixie sighed, rubbing her temples. "Look, some unicorn came up to me and handed me this ridiculously detailed – like, thesis length – documentation on how harmony based effects work, and she seemed really disappointed I couldn't follow it. Like I'd let her down, or something. I just thought I… I didn't want all her work to be in vain, okay?"

Ditzy nodded. "Makes sense!"

"Right." Trixie focused, pulling gently on the thread connected to the Element of Magic. It responded, slightly wilfully at first – then there seemed to be an almost audible _click_ and it fell into place.

Concentrating hard, she worked in a frequency flutter to each element as it activated. _Right, that's all of them, now what-_

* * *

Rainbow light chased across the country. Misty shapes, like horses, fled as it approached.

* * *

Princess Luna blinked. "What the _buck_ was I _thinking?_ Of _course_ hereditary nobility is a bad idea if you don't give them oversight and let them punish entire towns for a slight! _Gaah!"_

* * *

Twilight nodded to herself – job well done. "I thought so. Celestia's magic is kind of important in keeping the northern barrier intact, so without her we had a serious case of Windigo."

Rarity and Fluttershy were a little more shocked – having just got at least a bit used to a Pinkie Pie Party, the rush of strangely familiar magic had caused them to drop their cake.

"Oh, that reminds me." Twilight levitated out an orange-chased egg. "This is a phoenix egg I found. Would you mind taking care of it, Fluttershy? I'm sure you'll do fine."

* * *

6.2

* * *

"Marvellous work, Rarity." Sapphire Shores said, looking her new dress over. "I must say, you did _excellent_ work."

Rarity nodded. Every time, the dress for Sapphire was different. No coasting for _this_ fashion designer!

"Oh, that reminds me," the diva continued. "I was having a talk with one of your friends outside, and she made the most marvellous suggestion. I'd like to have at least fifty-two dresses, please. By next week if possible."

Rarity's eyes bulged beneath her mane. "_How_ many?"

"Fifty two. Oh, and they each have to be made of a single, different material. Must rush, so I'll be back for them in a week." Sapphire said, and left before Rarity could close her gaping jaw.

Twilight came in, looking over her shoulder at the departing fashion icon. "Sorry, Rarity. I didn't think she'd actually do it."

"No, this is… is… perfect!" Rarity gasped, and began moving things around. "Right, I need… let's see… I need the element of Generosity. Magical healing does away with the need for sleep, right?"

"I-" Twilight cut off her own sentence, as she watched Rarity dashing around and picking up more and more objects in her TK. "Did she say how much she'd pay?"

"Well, no…" the levitating tools slowed for a moment, then accelerated again. "But who cares! This shall be my crowning achievement!" Rarity summoned the Element of Generosity, and activated its secondary healing power. "To work!"

"Right, you seem to have things under control." Twilight said brightly, backing out of the door. "Let me know if you need anything."

* * *

"Okay…" Rarity ticked off, eyes shining. "Silk, cotton, flax, linen, satin, velvet, lycra, hay, that newfangled nylon… oh, of course, wool! I must not forget wool!" Two knitting needles levitated into the air, and got to work knitting a dress. "I have to _emphasize_ the unique qualities of each material, not downplay them…"

She frowned. "Does Cashmere count as a kind of wool? I don't know, how frustrating! Oh, it must be, I'll make it _very_ distinctive!"

* * *

Sweetie Belle held her pillow over her ears. Rarity was _still_ going! It had been three days!

Eventually she reached a decision. "Hey, Sis, I'm going to go sleep over at Applebloom's house!"

"Okay!" Rarity replied, distractedly. "Ask Twilight to take you!"

* * *

"Thirty-one." Rarity said, eyes drooping. "And I can't think of _any_ fabric I've missed."

Then an idea came to her. "Unless… it doesn't have to be _fabric_, exactly…"

She turned the taps on in the bathtub, letting them run with the plug in while she cleared more space in the central room of the boutique. Once there was most of a tub full of water ready, she drew it out in a shimmering sheet and applied Oerth magic to it.

_Shrink Item._

The tub full of water compacted to a small sheet of glittering, deep blue, translucent cloth. It gradually grew as more water was directed into it, and Rarity pondered if maybe she could mix in fresh water and salt water into the resultant outfit.

"Oh, and if there's water, then there simply _has_ to be _fire!_"

* * *

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, kicking water down on the fire. "Rarity, you could have at least put the thing out before you left…"

"Be fair." Twilight replied. "She's not slept in, what, five days? Even the Element of Generosity can only do so much to prevent tiredness."

* * *

"…Rarity?"

Twilight knocked on the door. No reply.

"Rarity!"

Eventually, she decided there was nothing for it and opened the door telekinetically. There was a _flumph_ as a dozen outfits landed on her, driven out by the sheer pressure.

"Pleh." Shaking her head, she kicked herself free, rolled upright and teleported into the boutique.

"Rarity?"

A mumbled reply came from upstairs. Twilight followed it, stepping over the piles of clothes. They started off fairly normal, but got more and more outlandish as she moved into the building. Just in the ones Twilight stepped over, there was a translucent ball gown that looked like it was made of water – and, it would seem, _was_… a piece made of condensed moonlight, and how Rarity had pulled _that_ off Twilight had no idea, and a… a…

Twilight stopped. "That's a barrier jacket. Those are made of solid _magic_. Wow, she really is pulling some special stuff off. Ooh, diamond chain mail…"

Shaking her head, she got back on task. She'd counted fifty-three on the ground floor, and another two on the stairs (extruded sapphire scales bound together by wafer-thin sapphire sheets, all with an ocean motif, and a glittering gold foil outfit that _had_ to be held together by magic.)

"Twilight." Rarity's exhausted voice came from her room. "Would it be proper for me to make the last one out of my own feathers, or is that a bit gauche? I can't tell any more."

Rounding the corner, Twilight looked in. Rarity was staring at herself in a mirror, deep bags under her eyes and mane unkempt. And she had wings.

"Rarity, how long is it since you slept?"

The alicorn blinked slowly. "…I don't remember. I think it got dark six times but I didn't go to sleep. Too much work. Too many ideas. Just one left."

Twilight facehoofed. "Rarity, you're an alicorn."

"Am I?" Rarity said, looking back at herself. "Huh. Wings. Must be where the feathers came from."

"Get some sleep, Rarity." Twilight said gently. "You lost count – you've done fifty-five. More than enough."

"…oh. Okay." The couch zipped in out of nowhere, and Rarity collapsed onto it.

* * *

"Well?" Dash asked.

Twilight shot her a grin. "It worked, all right."

The two sat in companionable silence, watching as Sapphire Shores and her assistants went ga-ga over every single outfit they got out of the building.

After a while, Fluttershy joined them. "I heard from Applejack. Rarity really is something, isn't she?"

"You all are." Twilight countered. "I'd say I was, too, but that's boasting."

"I'll say it for you!" Dash volunteered. "So long as you do the same for me."

"Sounds like a deal."

Fluttershy raised a hoof. "Uh… how long is Rarity going to be asleep? Shouldn't we be there when she wakes up?"

"Don't worry." Twilight replied, with a grin. "I think we'll know."

* * *

"…eeeeeeeeeEEEEEEE! OH. MY. GOSH!"

Applejack looked up from her work. "Yep, ah'd say she's awake."

* * *

6.3

* * *

Pinkie looked around. "Ooh, wow, human people. Only, not human people. They've got pointier ears. Hi!"

A harsh-faced humanoid looked her over. "…okay, what am I on?"

"Silly, you're not on anything! Except a planet. But I know what you're going to be in!" Pinkie reached into her mane, and pulled. Out came a large, cartoonish bomb with a fizzing fuse. "Party petard armed! Firework in the hole!"

* * *

Twilight stumbled, having Awoken mid-trot. Getting back into the rhythm of things, she reached out with her supernatural senses. "Okay… habitable planet, unoccupied… hugely stormy space, lots of psychic-magic energy everywhere… wow, but I can't really tell where I am…"

There was a small positive signal on her Element, though. The Element of Laughter was active, and it was Pinkie's one. "Wonder where _she_ is," Twilight said, sitting down on the surface of the world that would later be known as Macharia.

* * *

"No, no, no!" Pinkie said, shaking her head. "That is _NOT_ how you do a party!"

Two of the figures looked belligerent, and the third turned from a (thankfully as-yet unused) set of knives. "Oh? What would you know about it?"

"Let me show you!" Pinkie grinned. "Hey, hand these out." Reaching into her mane again, she pulled out a huge number of sealed envelopes. "Use that cool glowy-walky thing!"

"The web way," one of them deadpanned.

"Yeah, that!"

* * *

Eldarad Ulthuan tripped over his own cloak and fell face down on the floor.

That was when he realized two things. The first was that being the butt of a joke wasn't very fun. And the second was that it was time to get out of Eldar space _right now_.

* * *

The Emperor looked to the heavens. By fire and blood and steel he had unified humanity, and then the three Chaos Gods had cast his sons into the depths of space. But there were ripples in the Warp. The long storms were about to clear, and-

Everything went _pink._

* * *

"Hiya Twilight!"

Twilight startled awake. "Wh… Pinkie!" Her friend was standing upside down on thin air, looking at her with a big grin… and a horn… and wings.

_Oh, buck._ Her mind calmly delivered. _Pinkie's ascended_.

"Yeah, it's me! Hey, I ran into some nasty stern people who didn't know how to party. But I showed them _exactly_ how to party!" Pinkie bounced upside down. "They _all_ really, really liked my party!"

Twilight counted under her breath. She'd turned up in this Loop about two years ago, so… and it all looked horribly familiar all of a sudden…

"Pinkie," she asked, carefully. "Did you just hold a year-long party for an entire starfaring civilization?"

"Yep!" Pinkie replied.

"Great. Well, I suppose that makes sense. Congratulations, you have actually topped the list of strangest things we've ever replaced in a Loop." True to form, Twilight got out a list. She went past things like _Rarity – Marigold Heavenly Nostrils_ and _All of us – The Power Rangers_, and then slowed down at the very end of the list. Plucking a quill and ink out of the air, she wrote on a new entry. _"Pinkie Pie – Slaanesh._ Right. Well, this universe is FUBAR now… feel like messing with the Chaos Gods?"

Pinkie's smile shone. "DO I?"

* * *

**from the memoirs of Ciaphas Cain** (via Nikas)

"Jurgen, were did you get that cake?"

My aide pointed behind me, "The pink pony brought it for the party."

"What part..." I turned and beheld it, her. A pink, or rather **PINK** hide that would glow in the deepest starless space. Incredibly wide blue eyes. If one could be said to drown in eyes, these could sink Holy Terra without a trace. The Xeno had a form that could be considered Equine, if only in a child's scribblings. Crowned by wings and a spiral horn there was no doubt, she was Pinkamena Diane Pie, Warp Goddess of Laughter and Celebration.

Once again poorly imitating a proud Commissar of the Imperium I did my duty, and accepted the plate with a piece of cake upon it from her forelimbs. (1) She gave a sudden gasp as I saw recognition in her alien eyes.

"I know you!" she accused, pointing one flat ended forelimb at me, her wings flapping to get her to eye level with me. I readied to do my pitiful best to sell my life dearly for the Emperor. I was completely taken by surprise by the form of her attack.

Her eyes glittered with twinkling stars as she blurted out "You're **CANDY CANE, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM**! Oh, I never got to throw a 'Megabestest hero ever party! Just a minute, I have to call in the orbital party support!"

* * *

(1) How a Xeno without grasping appendages managed to hold the plate is best left unconsidered. Several Inquistors of the Ordo Xenos have gone mad trying.

* * *

6.4 (from Mandemon)

* * *

"And here comes Sovereign!" Shepard said, just as the massive Reaper's hologram appeared. " Seriously, I can't believe you didn't meet him during your turn."

"Wow, so you are dealing with this thing?" Twilight asked, looking up to the Reaper. "And yeah, we never even heard of him. Only thing weird in that loop was that we never found Pinkie."

"Him and several thousand more." Shepard scratched the back of his neck. "Though he's kinda cool dude once you get to know him, actually. Yo Sov, how are the bitches?"

"Wazzup Shep... OH FUCK NO!" Sovereign's voice, while originally a menacing yet relaxed tone, suddenly devolved into panicked screams.

"Oookay... that was new." Shepard said.

"NO! NO NONONONONONONONO! NO! IFYOUAREHERETHEPINKONEISHEREANDIFTHEPINKONEISHERES HEWILLOHGODIAMSOFUCKEDFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK-"

"Oh! Hey Sovvy!" Pinkie Pie said cheerfully and waved her hoof, climbing from the ducts.

"FUCK THIS SHIT!" Sovereigns voice boomed and the hologram disappeared.

After a startled pause, Joker contacted Shepard. "Uh, Shepard, I don't know what you did, but the big dreadnought? I think it just beat the speed of Mass Relays. It pulled an impossible turn and sped away."

"Right Joker, stand by." Shepard said to the comm before turning to Pinkie Pie. "Want to explain?"

"Oh, there was this one loop, you remember, where we replaced Shepard and co, and you became Twipard and Dash became Darrus and I ended up in Geth space and I met Sovvy and I talked with Sovvy and Sovvy said it was ancient and never had a birthday party and it was really sad and we had parties and Geth were really nice and then he mentioned his friends and-"

"Oh... that one." Twilight said. "I _was_ kinda wondering why the heck you were so worried about these Reapers, since we never met them during our loop…"

"...Tali, can you figure out a way to clone Pinkie? We could use her to blackmail Sovvy next time." Shepard said, turning to Tali who was barely holding her laughter.

* * *

6.5

* * *

"Twilight?" Pinkie said, suspiciously.

"Yes?" Twilight replied.

"How come you aren't freaking out?"

Twilight shrugged, squashing to an inch's thickness under a colossal anvil and bouncing back moments later with a _sproi-i-i-ing_. "Maybe I'm just a natural."

"Nice work, guys!" Bugs Bunny said. "Especially you, Twilight."

Pinkie simmered.

* * *

"Aha!" Pinkie shouted. "I know what's happened!"

Twilight looked innocent. "Yes?"

"You've been to Toon University before!"

"…alright, guilty as charged." Ten thousand volts ran through both of them, causing an interesting light display. "Strange Loop, that was, actually – the Toon university was run by Discord out of White Tail Woods."

Pinkie looked sad. "I'd have loved that one!"

"Yeah." Twilight tossed her head. "At least the non looping you graduated top of the class."

* * *

6.6 - Disney (from Stainless Steel Fox)

* * *

Okay, this was a weird one, definitely a wild solo loop. Twilight's memories told her she was apparently a feral unicorn who was wandering the world after her old home had been destroyed, a world which apparently contained humans. She was in a forest, which thinned out ahead, and animals were fleeing past her. There was also the sound of what she could now identify as gunshots.

She ran forward to the edge of the woods, which opened out onto a snow-covered meadow, with grass just starting to peek through. Deer were fleeing, and even as she watched, one of them fell, her young foal racing ahead without seeing it happen. Seeing the hunters getting closer, led by an arrogant looking human with a cleft chin and bulging muscles, she reacted instinctively.

A massive illusion of Spike in his Nightfury form swooped down on them, sending the group fleeing, and under cover of it, she teleported out, reached out to encompass the deer in her teleport, and warped back, deep into the forest. Drawing on her loop as a nurse, she examined the wound. It wasn't fatal, but soon would be.

Fortunately, her fine telekinetic control allowed her to withdraw the bullet, and healing magic cleaned and healed the wound. A foal stumbled across her a few moments later, calling out.

"Mother, where are you?" He came to a splay legged stop on seeing his mother, who was just starting to stir. He dropped down by her and snuggled up, crying.

"Bambi… you have to get away…" She said weakly.

Twilight realised that they weren't actually speaking in the normal sense, and that this version of unicorn apparently came with the gift of tongues. That was a keeper. "It's alright, you're deep in the forest. I don't think any of those hunters will be coming in here any time soon."

The snow had started up again, but Twilight just put up a low level shield to guide it away. The older deer just looked at her curiously, but the foal, Bambi spoke out. "Gosh, you look funny."

That got Twilight conjuring a mirror to get a first good look at herself. She was her normal colouration, but her body was shaped more like a horse, and scaled as one if the deer were anything to go by. "I'm a unicorn. Your mother was hurt, but she'd going to be alright. You should stay with her. "

Noticing that they were both quite thin, she pulled a bale of hay from her subspace pocket and dropped it by them. She heard rustling, and saw another deer, a stallion with magnificent antlers approaching and decided that she could leave them alone. Besides, she'd thrown out an alarm spell, and it had just tripped. It appeared one of the hunters hadn't been scared off, at least not far enough.

She teleported to near his location and stepped out in front of him, glaring.

"I thought I saw something in the meadow. What a magnificent beast! You will make a fine trophy for the wall of the inn!"

Whatever else was wrong with him, there was no problem with his reflexes, and he brought his musket up to his shoulder and fired in a single smooth motion.

The bullet came to a dead stop three inches in front of Twilight's chest. "No, I won't."

Her telekinesis lifted him off the floor and held him immobile as she pried the weapon from his hands.

"Hmmm. Muzzle loading, flintlock action, rifled barrel. Basic but useful."

"Give that back! I am Gaston, the finest hunter in the village, and demand you return it, creature!"

A small application of energy made the barrel glow red hot, and her telekinesis quickly twisted it into a pretzel. Cooling it equally quickly, and wrecking the temper of the metal in the process, she dropped it back in his hands.

"There you go. Now, we're going to this village, and I will discuss the proper way to treat a unicorn."

With him still floating along behind her like an impatient balloon, she trotted through the snowstorm in the direction of the other hunters. Gaston kept up a litany composed in equal parts of how awesome he was and what he'd do to her when he got free of her sorcery. He even started singing about it.

She could have shut him up with a silence spell, but his discourse was so illuminating, she let him carry on. He sounded across between Rainbow Dash at her worst, and the Trixie in full boast mode. His musical enumeration of his many 'virtues' confirmed her initial opinion that he was a brutal, bullying thug, with all the grace and charm of a slug… no that was being unfair to slugs.

* * *

6.7 (via Filraen)

* * *

(The Ranma loop that used to be here was incomplete, and has been removed at request of the original author. This is also one of his, which I erroneously concatenated with another of his loops earlier on.)

* * *

_Dear Princess Celestia,_

_Thanks for letting me know you are awake this loop. As usual, this is my Friendship report for the loops you weren't awake._

_I learned Friendship can come in many shapes and forms. Not long ago I met one of those "human" creatures, another looper, who showed me her ways to do Magic of Friendship. And while I was bit sceptic of the methods at first the stories of the results she told me and the pictures she showed me of how her friends had lived after put my fears to rest. I'd like to request a meeting with you and Princess Luna to compare and contrast the Magic of Friendship used by the human Nanoha Takamachi._

_Your faithful student,_

_Twilight Sparkle_

_PS: I'm sorry for this report being so short, but as result of a practical test of her Magic of Friendship the loop ended suddenly, leaving me in that strange pony land (please don't ask me about that loop, I'm still trying to recover from it)._

* * *

6.8 (from Mandemon)

* * *

Trinity, New Mexico, 1946

* * *

"Well, let's see if this works. I was quite surprised to see you here. Perhaps this time everything will go well." Einstein said as he made final adjustments to the time machine.

"Don't worry, it will work. I had practice. Let's just hope everything goes well." Twilight replied, standing on the platform..

"Alright, here we go. On 3... 2... 1..."

A flash and Twilight disappeared.

* * *

Landsberg, Germany, 1924

* * *

Twilight watched as a man walked out of prison, looked and whistled, before heading off.

"Herr Hitler."

"Ja? Was ist loss? Ich ha-" The man fell silent when he saw who, or what, had spoken to him.

"Ja... Ich verstehe..." A bright flash of pink light later, history was changed. Again.

* * *

Trinity, New Mexico, 1946

* * *

Another flash and Twilight reappeared.

"Did it work?" She asked right away.

"Yes, and no. Take a look." Einstein said and turned the television on.

"As the chancellor of European Confederacy declared war against United Soviet Socialist Republics to be over, United States has requested aid from EC to aid against the invasion of The Empire of The Rising Sun. After Empire deployed it's Super Fortress on Pacific, United States have been on defensive. However, recent discoveries indicate, that The Empire is trying to deploy another fortress on Atlantic. Chancellor Hitler had declared that Confederacy would not stand for any attempt to demean human life or freedom and has vowed to bring the Confederacy into the war. Latest polls however, indicate war weariness among-"

Einstein turned off the TV.

"Well, we did succeed in making Europe resist Soviets, quite successfully, but we ignored whole other problem, the Japanese. With nobody to stop them, they took quite a large part of East-Asia and are currently trying to knock out United States, who have been preventing them from expanding to Australia or anywhere else."

"Sorry it didn't work so well, I was sure we could prevent a world war." Twilight said, sadly.

"Oh, I've seen worse. The loop where I tried to establish MAD situation among every side went a lot worse. However, I did learn something. Nuclear Winter does not actually happen."

* * *

6.9

* * *

"Okay, this is strange." Twilight said, tapping away at a PADD from her pocket universe. "We're on Earth, in the early twenty-first century, and… guys, I think this is the hub universe."

"What's that?" Dash asked, peering over.

Twilight hit three more buttons, and levitated the display so all six of them could watch.

_"I used to think…"_

"Huh." Applejack eventually said, as the video of _Elements of Harmony, part 2_ ended. "So we're a TV show here?"

"I think _everyone _is." Using telekinesis this time, Twilight used the Trek-loop computer to bring up a dozen web pages. How To Train Your Dragon, Naruto, Power Rangers, Neon Genesis Evangelion… they were used to the idea that some Loops were fictional material in other Loops, but this was a _lot_ more than usual.

"Okay." Rarity said, tapping her hoof. "What do we do now?"

"I have an idea." Twilight said.

* * *

_"…by a cosmic coincidence it would take too long to explain, we have ended up here on your Earth. We only have a relatively short time here before we must depart anew, but we feel that we owe it to you, if none other, to tell us how grateful we are._

_In a way we cannot understand, you may have created us. If that is not the case, then you faithfully recreated us and told our story to millions. So thank you._

_Yours,_

_Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack._

_P.S. please find enclosed some photographs. We're sure you'll like them."_

* * *

Twilight sealed the envelope. "There we go. I'll send it to her in a minute. Anything else we want to do?"

"Ooh!" Pinkie said. "Let's go to fan conventions and pretend to be cosplayers!"

"…actually, yeah, that sounds cool." Dash weighed in.

Grinning, Twilight shook her head. "I heard that when Naruto and Sasuke turned up here, they tried to interrogate their own author to force him to answer some tricky questions. Wonder what the other Loopers will think when they heard our main response was a thank-you letter?"

* * *

6.10 (from Stainless Steel Fox)

* * *

**The power of love**

* * *

The shopkeeper complimented his client. "Ah, you have a keen eye. The Alicorn Amulet is one of the most mysterious and powerful of all the known magical charms. Uh, ah- I'm afraid _this_ is… far too dangerous."

A bag of bits only slightly larger than his head landed on the counter.

"Would you like that gift-wrapped?"

Twilight Sparkle just grinned evilly.

* * *

'Dear Cadence,

I suppose I should be calling you Princess Mi Amore Cadenza now, but I hope you don't mind that I always think of you as Cadence, my foal sitter and one of my favourite ponies in all of Equestria. I should have written before now, but I've been crazy deep in my studies, and I know you're really busy too. I'm ashamed to say this isn't just a social letter, I need your help really badly. I found an ancient legend about Nightmare Moon. From my research, she isn't just some fantasy figure to appease with sweets on Nightmare Night, she really existed!

The legends say she was Princess Celestia's sister, and once controlled the moon and night, but she turned evil and Princess Celestia locked her away using something called the Elements of Harmony. I haven't been able to find out anything more about these, but they appear to have been a really powerful magic artefact.

Why am I telling you this? Because the same legends say Nightmare Moon will return on the longest day of the thousandth year, the day after tomorrow. There's a superior conjunction of minor moons which will align with our primary moon, and cause an amplification effect. The legend refers to it by saying 'the stars will aid her escape'. Her stated goal was to bring eternal night, so her first action will obviously be to attack Princess Celestia.

I've passed my findings to Princess Celestia, but she's just told me not to worry, and is sending me to oversee the Summer Sun Celebrations in Ponyville. I know I should trust her judgement, but I'm worried that without the Elements of Harmony, and with Nightmare Moon's powers amplified by the conjunction, she might not be able to handle Nightmare Moon on her own.

That's where you come in. I know it's asking a lot, but if you can find a way to visit Ponyville tomorrow and stay for the Summer Sun Celebration, you could be on site to help. In my studies, I've located a magical amplifier called the Alicorn amulet that would boost your powers. It has the side effect of corrupting the user, but I'm certain that with your power of love, and my wide knowledge of spell-craft we can purify it before you use it.

I'll continue to research other avenues as much as my duties allow, but this could be the one chance we have to defeat Nightmare Moon, not that it wouldn't be wonderful just to see you again. Maybe the library in Ponyville has something on these Elements.

Your friend,

Twilight Sparkle.

P.S. Please don't tell Princess Celestia, I am kind of disobeying her. I only hope she'll forgive me.'

* * *

6.11

* * *

The background murmur of voices died away as Princess Twilight, Princess of Magic, stepped up to the podium.

"Equestria is an idea," she began without preamble. "A bold, daring idea, by three ponies long ago. They decided to see if it was possible that a society could last built not upon pragmatism and wariness, but upon trust and friendship.

"Five hundred and fifteen earth ponies, four hundred and ninety-two unicorns, and five hundred and six pegasi first founded this country. They made it a haven for all, regardless of race, breed or species."

Everyone in the plaza already knew this, but such was the reputation of the Princesses that her voice was the only sound in the whole massed square.

"When I and my sisters first came across Equestria, we joined as any other – farmers, shopkeepers, students. We were asked to become the rulers of the country three times. Twice, we refused… and the third time, of course, we accepted. But only on condition that we be _princesses_, never queens, for the people of Equestria are her true rulers.

"We have ruled long, and – we hope – well, but nothing can last forever and it falls to us all to make plans for the future, even if that future may never come. Accordingly, my sisters and I have discussed the matter at great length, and have decided to each select one champion to bear our symbol."

Twilight stepped back, and Pinkie Pie, Princess of Laughter, replaced her.

"I pick Dissy! Oh, er, Discord of Wizard's Peak!"

A rather startled dragon jumped. "Er… me?"

"Yes you, silly!" Pinkie giggled. "Unless you're just pretending to be Dissy, because if you are then no."

The indicated dragon, still looking a bit shocked, walked numbly up to the stage.

Pinkie levitated her Element necklace off her neck and onto Discord's. "There ya go!"

Applejack had already taken the stand. "Ah think the best representative of me'd be Cadance."

* * *

One by one, the six Princesses picked their 'champions'. Discord for Laughter, Cadance for Honesty, Celestia for Loyalty, her sister Luna for Generosity, and Chrysalis of the Changelings for Kindness.

Finally, Twilight retook the stage. "And for my own symbol, the symbol of magic… I hereby select Sombra of the Crystal Empire."

Chrysalis looked elated. _Not surprising,_ Twilight thought. For some reason, Sombra and Chrysalis just kept being in relationships…

It would be interesting to see how this loop played out. All six of those they'd chosen were only about twenty or so. The same age _they_ had been the first time they'd taken up their own Elements, in the original Equestria.

Actually, engineering a completely cosmopolitan Equestria had been a fun enough challenge.

* * *

6.12 (via Nikas)

* * *

Usagi wanted to cry. She went on this trip with Mamoru to get away from this! Though the locals seemed rather blasé about things as the police evacuated everyone from the monster. A flash showed why as to the crowd's cheers the local senshi showed up. Her outfit lacked the bows of her own, and the frills were a western fringe, more Annie Oakley than Idol Singer. Complete with a small arsenal of guns which the American Magical Girl quickly employed.

The situation was stalemated, and Usagi and Mamoru where looking for a discreet place to change when a pony in a western dress and cowboy boots nudged her aside with a muttered "excuse me". Whirling a lasso she roped the monster, pinning it in place. "Now sugarcube!" the magical mascot yelled.

With a smile Megan shot the current monster with a rainbow charge out of her Winchester to disperse it. She waved to the crowd before she and Applejack shot off. Leaving behind Usagi, who was ranting to her fiancé: why did the gaijin get a useful mascot, while she was stuck with a lazy cat!

* * *

"You realize that I haven't had to do _anything_?" Twilight asked. "Admittedly, being a spiritual advisor is kind of neat…"

"Just shows Megan's up t' the job." Applejack replied calmly.

* * *

Applejack lowered her hat, and spat out the wheat stalk she was chewing. "Mount up Megan, time to show this here badguy how we buck the apples."

Rummaging for a moment, Megan got out a Springfield Carbine and slapped in a round. "You got it, Applejack."

* * *

6.13 (from Namar13766)

* * *

Twilight looked around. "Okay, it's the day before Luna's first Nightmare Night. Any suggestions so that she enjoys it from the get-go instead of canceling it first?"

Fluttershy gave what would have been an uncharacteristic smile for her pre-loop self. "Pinkie and I had an idea..."

* * *

Pinkie nodded to Vinyl, who put the record on, and then started cuing in the dancers. If she got this perfectly, it would hit the chorus just as Luna broke the cloud layer.

_"It's close to midnight…_  
_Something evil's lurkin'in the dark  
Under the moonlight  
You see a sight that almost stops your heart  
You try to scream  
But terror takes the sound before you make it  
You start to freeze  
As horror looks you right between the eyes  
You're paralyzed_

'Cause this is thriller…"

* * *

"How did your night out go, Sister?" Celestia asked, as Luna walked up the steps.

"BRILLIANT!" Luna boomed, then flushed and lowered her voice. "The pink one played a song that could have been _written_ for Nightmare Night! And I got so. Much. Candy!"

"She's right, you know." Meadowlark muttered around a mouthful of toffee, the guard not missing a step as he followed his principal. "I didn't know there was that much sugar in Equestria."

"Oh, dear." Celestia said, stifling a grin. "That explains the letter I got."

* * *

_"Dear Princess Celestia._

_I think I'm having a sugar rush. This is a bit strange because I haven't eaten anything yet, so it must be all the sugar in the air!"_

* * *

AN: That's another lot done.

If any of the previous loops are continued, I'll try to make it clear.


	7. Chapter 7

7.1

* * *

"Twilight!"

Twilight looked around. It was the evening after the formation of the Elements, and the purification of Luna. Since the purple Anchor was planning on experimenting with events at the Gala, she'd done it effectively as she had in the original time line.

The pink-and-yellow alicorn hovering outside her bedroom window sort of suggested her plans were going to have to change, though.

"Cadence!" she said, quietly but happily. "Hold on." A silence spell manifested around Spike's bed. "Okay, come around to the balcony, I'll let you in."

* * *

"So you're Looping this time?" Twilight asked, levitating over a glass of sparkling water. "It's nice to see you. What's the plan this time?"

"You always let me plan things, Twilight." Cadence said, accepting the drink and sipping it. "That's nice of you."

"Well, it _is_ fairly rare I see you." Twilight reminded her. "I know it seems different from your perspective, but I _do_ have a fair number of lonely Loops."

"I can imagine." After a moment, Cadence changed topics. "Anyway, there's some good news. And I need to ask you for a few favours."

"…okay." Twilight answered warily, suddenly suspicious.

"Favours first." Cadence said. "First, I'd like everything right up to my wedding to go exactly the same as it did the first time around. I'm sorry if that's wearing on you, but I'd really like the wedding to go as planned the first time."

"No, it's no hardship." Twilight assured her. "Actually, after the last loop it might be nice to relax a bit."

"Last Loop?" Cadence pried.

"Something very energetic involving giant robots again. Fun, but after a while you just want to relax, you know?" Twilight tapped a hoof. "Though Dash _did_ beat up that Starscream robot in a very impressive way… anyway. The second thing?"

"Do you know a temporary memory spell?" Cadence asked. "Something that temporarily – _not_ permanently – prevents a pony from remembering something?"

"I… think I do." Twilight said. "Or I can have one fairly soon, an adaptation of Obliviation. But why? You're starting to worry me…"

"And third," Cadence said, "I want you to bring a lump of Cosmic Spectrum with you when you rescue me from the mines."

Twilight put two and two together. "Shiny's awake?!"

"Well done." Cadence grinned. "Yes, he is, and it's _such_ a relief. But you know why I'm asking for all those things?"

"Yes." Twilight began pacing. "You want the wedding to go _exactly_ as it did the first time, so if Shiny's awake you'll need him to not remember about Chrysalis – otherwise, even if he's good at acting, his emotions will give him away. You have much better control of your emotions because that's what your talent is about, so you're fine, and I can fake what we need effectively. And it's too good an opportunity to miss."

"Precisely." Cadence said. "Now, if we _do_ want things to go right, we'll have to stay out of touch for a fair while. Otherwise you'll be just too credible…"

"I understand." The unicorn gave a determined nod.

* * *

Twilight sat back, watching the familiar glow building on the horns of Shining Armor and Cadence. It was always impressive to watch, this, but – considering that she could see the lump of Cosmic Spectrum Cadence had stuffed into his outfit – she rather thought her brother was about to outdo himself.

With a concussive _boom_, the shield/exclusion spell hit criticality and bloomed outwards, picking up all the Changelings and throwing them away.

…actually, by the looks of things the shield had expanded to the size of the entire _country_. That was a first.

* * *

"Well done, Shiny." Cadence said, and snapped the thread of the spell Twilight had applied last month with a quick flicker of magic.

"What- oh." Shining Armor stood up, shakily, and looked around. "Did you block my memory of last time that – that… of last time Chrysalis attacked?"

"Yes." Cadence said, looking down and shuffling her hooves. "But it was for a good cause."

"Really?" Shining asked. "_Really?_"

"Yep." Cadence flicked a hoof out, and Shining's thought processes abruptly shut down as his girlfriend tapped him on the wing.

"Darling…" he asked, with impressive calmness, "Why do I have wings?"

"I said it was for a good cause," she replied impishly. Then glanced over at Twilight. "You can explain things, right?"

"Think so." Twilight replied. "I'll say it was a wedding gift you were going to give, and explain to Celestia and Luna a shortened version of what happened. But in my experience it takes an hour for the wedding to get back on track, so be back by then."

"Right." Cadence nodded her thanks, then grabbed Shining Armor in a curtain of magic and teleported fifty miles east to an unoccupied country estate.

* * *

7.2

* * *

Twilight watched as Gilda ranted, berating Dash and every other pony in the room.

She knew it was hard on her friend to face this, and more so when she'd recently started looping and had to face it more than once…

The griffin finally finished, panting, and turned to go.

"Wait." Dash said, the calm word sounding all the louder by contrast with Gilda's shouts.

Gilda turned, almost against her will.

"Look," the pegasus continued. "I'm not good at speaking – you know that – so sorry if this isn't all fancy and… I'm making this up as I go, okay? I… I _do_ like you. You're one of my oldest friends. You were _there_ for me, back at flight school…"

Everyone else was silent, listening to Dash's voice. She'd lost the calm she'd had earlier, and the words were strained.

"But… I don't know. Maybe you've changed, maybe I've changed, maybe I'm just noticing it now and I didn't care before. But you just… you aren't nice. More importantly – though it shouldn't be – you aren't nice to my other friends." Twilight spotted that Dash's eyes were shining with unshed tears, and a look over at Gilda showed that the griffin's own face was screwed up like she didn't know _what_ to think.

"Please, Gilda." Dash said, her voice wavering. "Don't make me choose between my friends."

Gilda blinked, scowling, then shook her head. "I… gaah! Why does this have to be so hard! I don't know what to – and – aargh!"

"Look, you don't have to be all sweetness and light. That wouldn't be _you._" The ghost of a smile crept across Dash's face. "Just… I dunno, give me your address or something. We'll work from there."

"Yeah, I guess that works." Gilda said, then looked around at the other ponies. "This never happened, okay?"

Twilight nodded encouragingly. "For some reason, I've been struck blind. And deaf."

"Me too!" Pinkie said. "Ooh, where am I?"

Gilda surprised herself with a tired chuckle. "Heh. Okay, fine. I think I know your address. I'll send you a letter after I think it over, alright?"

"That's fine." Dash nodded. "Hey, maybe you can come to the Best Young Fliers. I've got a great set planned!"

"Wouldn't miss it." Gilda said, and Twilight realized she meant it.

* * *

"Well done, Dash." Twilight said, beaming. "That must have been tricky for you."

"Yeah." Dash replied, shaking her head. "I can't believe I _said_ half the stuff I said there."

Twilight chuckled. "Yeah, funny how that works. Maybe next time you can try and get it sorted out earlier – I mean, if you get to know how she is now this loop."

"Sure." Dash shrugged. "I just… I dunno. Maybe she felt like how Pinkie was behaving was too much like what it was like when we were bullied? I know she stuck up for me back at Flight School."

"Could be." Twilight agreed. "From what I know of griffin culture, though, they're very impressed by strength – not just strength in battle, either. Strength of character, strength of will… maybe if Fluttershy was a bit more confident, or…"

"Don't know." Dash replied. "Something to try out, maybe. Now I'm going to go and see if I remember how to write a letter…"

* * *

7.3

* * *

Nightmare Moon spread her wings, rearing back. "The Night Will-"

As was getting fairly normal for Equestria's Time Loops, she didn't finish the sentence. What was _un_usual, though, was that she got tackled by a gigantic purple dragon.

"Excellent work, my faithful minion!" a dark-purple-and-black alicorn boomed, eyes flaring and a wan light emanating from her. "Day and Night are outdated. This shall forever more be the land of twilight!"

"Actually," the dragon asked, looking up from hog-tying Nightmare Moon. "How are we going to do that? I mean, the sun has to be up or down, right?"

"Use my title!" the alicorn snapped.

"Fine, then." The eighty-foot dragon rolled his eyes. "Eternal Twilight, Lady of the Morning and the Evening. How are we going to actually _do_ this?"

"Well… put the sun at the place it is at sunrise, and the moon at moonset." Eternal Twilight said, her voice losing the echoing quality slightly. "You know. Like in the morning. Or the evening."

"But…" the dragon didn't let it go that easily, and ponies began to creep back out of their hiding places to watch. "The world is round, right?"

"Of course, Spykoranuvellitar!" Eternal Twilight answered promptly. "You know that."

The Great Wyrm nodded. "Yeah, yeah. So… if you make it so it's twilight in Ponyville, then if you walk forty miles east… what is it?"

"…oh." The alicorn kicked the stage. "I didn't think of that. It would be morning, of course. Cursed Celestia! She foils me without even trying!"

The two interlopers stood there for a moment, awkwardly shuffling their feet.

"What about overcast?" Spykoranuvellitar suggested. "Maybe you could invent glowing clouds or something."

"Of course!" Eternal's voice went right back to the booming, echoing shout. "Hurry, my faithful minion! We must establish a major and permanent cloudbank, which is also on fire at the top. To Cloudsdale!"

"And that's another thing." Spykoran added, taking flight after the alicorn and smashing a hole in the roof. "Why am I a _minion?_"

"Villains have minions!" the alicorn replied, and after that they were out of earshot.

* * *

Celestia blinked at the thoroughly restrained Nightmare Moon. "What on Equestria happened to you?"

"Mmmff." Nightmare replied, rolling her eyes towards the rope tying her muzzle shut.

"Oh, sorry." With a flash of fire, Celestia incinerated the rope. Nightmare gasped in air.

"Celestia, sister of mine… why?" Nightmare managed. "Why must you torment me so?"

"Pardon?" Celestia asked. "This wasn't me."

"It can't have been coincidence." Moon said, pointedly. "A thousand years. A _thousand_ years on the moon, I planned my revenge. And when I got here, and announced my arrival to the world, I got halfway through my planned speech and then got body-checked by a great wyrm. It's just not _fair."_

"A great wyrm… hmmm, there aren't any I can think of." The Princess of the Sun mused. "Not that would get involved, anyway. And… what's happening to the sky?"

"Don't ask me." Nightmare Moon finally got a spell off, and dissolved into stars before reforming with the ropes left where they'd been shed. "Is that cloud… rainbow coloured? Did you redecorate while I was gone?"

* * *

"We have ignition!" Spike said.

Twilight grinned. "This is probably a really stupid thing to do, but who cares. We're the only ones in danger."

'Eternal Twilight' dumped a last batch of liquid rainbow into the cloud layer, then kicked the pilot cloud into the main cirrostratus.

There was a huge flash, and when it died down Twilight was short most of her hair and Spike had a singed tail.

On the other hoof, the cloud layer was merrily burning.

"Success! Now to go and make my demands to Celestia!" Twilight cackled, getting back into character. "Though I might want to apply a hair regrowth spell first. I look ridiculous."

"Don't you have a magic… thing… with your mane?" Spike waved a claw vaguely. "You know, like Luna and Celestia do?"

"No, but it might be nice to invent one." Twilight agreed. "I'll ask for how they did it next time. Anyway, let's see…" she checked a list. "Our demands include, but are not limited to… the town of Trottingham except the left half, every first edition book in Equestria, the treasury – with condiments," she nodded to Spike, "free passes to Ponyville sauna, a cool set of armour for me, and…"

Spike started whistling.

"You added this bit, didn't you?" Twilight asked accusingly. "The dressmaker known as 'Rarity' to perform Damsel in Distress duties for one day a month?"

"You know it's not a proper horde without a proper horse." Spike said glibly. "Actually, though… why are we doing this?"

"It is very funny." Twilight replied.

"No, I mean what are we going to tell them?"

"Oh. Hadn't really thought that through." Twilight admitted. "I suppose that if we can get Celestia and Nightmare Moon to put aside their differences, that'd be nice. But the reason we'll tell them? Hmmm…"

* * *

"Why, Twilight?" Celestia asked, pushing with her magic at Eternal Twilight's shield. "Why did you become so twisted and dark?"

"Ahem." Nightmare Moon interjected, horn blazing right alongside her sister.

"Sorry." Celestia apologized. "Force of habit."

"That's alright." Moon accepted her sister had simply made a slip of the tongue, and kept hammering away at the shield.

"You weren't ready for Nightmare Moon's return!" Eternal Twilight shouted. "Neither of you are fit to rule, and so I decided to take over!"

"And what about young Spike?" Celestia slammed her hooves on the floor, increasing the intensity of her attack.

Spykoranuvellitar, standing to one side and taking up most of the Ponyville Square, looked embarrassed. "The pay's good. She does dental."

Nightmare Moon suddenly looked interested. Celestia nudged her. "Stay on-task, sister!"

"Fine." Moon grumbled. "_Did_ you have a plan for my return?"

"You're looking at her." Celestia replied. "She seemed like a good fit to use the Element of Magic."

Twilight's shield dropped so suddenly that the two estranged royal sisters' attack overshot, and demolished the empty library.

"Oh." Twilight said, shrinking back into a unicorn. "You could have _said_. Hey, Spike, go put the clouds out."

"Why me?" Spykoranuvellitar asked, crossing his enormous arms.

"You're fireproof, and you still have wings." Twilight replied. "Besides, I need to go rebuild the library."

"…that's _it?"_ Nightmare Moon asked. _"Seriously?"_

"Shut up and stop complaining!" Celestia hissed. "Do you _want_ to fight her again?"

"…you have a point." Moon admitted.

* * *

_Dear Princess Celestia._

_Sorry about the misunderstanding. I may have overdone it a bit there. But you have to admit, it would have set my mind at rest a lot more if I'd had the sense you were doing something._

_The thing I learned about friendship today is that sometimes ponies who have grudges will team up against a more important enemy, and that that can help them get over the grudges._

_P.S. if Spike's sent most of the desk with this one, that's because I haven't managed to undo the growth spell yet._

* * *

7.3 additional

* * *

The library door creaked open.

"Oh, who is it- Nightmare!" Twilight said, startled.

"Please, call me Luna," the alicorn of darkness said. "My sister and I have discussed things in great detail, and I wish to put the whole sorry affair behind us. No, I was here for a different matter. I heard about this 'Nightmare Night'. What would be a good costume?"

Twilight blinked. "Why ask me, your highness?" She looked Luna up and down. She actually looked… like she hadn't changed _anything_ from how she looked when she'd turned up in battle rattle to try and overthrow Celestia.

"…I don't actually know many ponies." Luna said. "It's only been a few weeks, after all. And you at least know who I am."

"True." Twilight nodded. "Well, you're ready."

"I am?" Luna seemed surprised. "But the holiday is not for months!"

"Yeah, but…" Twilight shrugged. "You're kind of the patron slash scary thing of the holiday. You could go as, er… _you."_

"What are you going as, then?" Luna asked.

Twilight frowned. "I might actually go as Eternal Twilight. Hmmm… can you encourage your sister to come to Ponyville too? If she dresses up as, I don't know… Infernal Blaze, or something?"

"Ah, a theme!" Luna said, enthused. "Much like the costume balls I remember. Yes, I shall enjoin her to do so."

* * *

"TREMBLE IN FEAR, MORTALS!" boomed out from a black shape wreathed in stars.

"THE NIGHT SHALL NOT SAVE YOU NOW!" added a second voice, accompanied by the crackling of flames.

The light in Ponyville gradually washed out, diffused by fog into a featureless grey. "THERE IS NO HOPE OF DAWN, NO SOLACE OF THE NIGHT."

Gradually, almost every pony in the town gravitated to the main square – which the three figures had left alone, preferring to stalk the streets instead.

Then the front of one of the houses moved. "Boo."

* * *

Spike, Twilight, Celestia and Luna exchanged hoofbumps and high fives.

"That's the most fun I've had in a century!" Celestia said, still grinning.

"Indeed, 'twas most enjoyable." Luna added, slipping back into archaisms.

Twilight nodded. "Though it might have gone down a bit less well if Spike hadn't dumped so many sweets into the square – after scaring every pony silly, I mean."

"True." Celestia said. "Now, I wonder how we're going to top that next year…"

* * *

7.4

* * *

"How are we dividin' this up?" Princess Applejack asked, bodily lifting the newly statue'd Discord into position in what would become the gardens of Canterlot palace. "I mean, ah know Dash did one o' these loops with you, but…"

"Hmm…" Princess Twilight Sparkle frowned. "What about if I get the heavens and you get the earth?"

"Seems t' work." Applejack nodded. "Now, what first?"

"First," Twilight levitated up a huge stack of books. "I'm afraid we _do_ need to get rather good at paperwork."

"Ah, horsefeathers." Applejack said morosely, and picked up a quill with her telekinesis. "Good thing ah went to that nice school in Manehattan that one time…"

* * *

"Er, Applejack…" Twilight ventured. "You don't think you might be getting perhaps a little fixated?"

"What's that, Twi?" Applejack mumbled, around a mouthful of papers. "Ah'm too busy settin' up more land grants."

"Yeah, that's the thing." Twilight spread out a map with a crackle of paper, and markers appeared. "You've dedicated seventy-three percent of the continent to apple production. There was a 'please, not apples _again_' riot in Trottingham!"

Applejack shrugged. "They're ingrates, then."

"Look… I know you're in charge of what happens on the ground, but… there _are_ other foods besides apples." Twilight pressed, feeling a strangely familiar sinking sensation.

There was a _whump_, and the yellow-orange alicorn in front of her was consumed by crimson fire. **"Say that again, Twilight Sparkle!"**

_Here we go again…_ Twilight thought to herself.

It seemed like the first time one of her friends became one of Equestria's two rulers, they always overdid _something_. Twilight was probably quite lucky to have Celestia and Luna to keep an eye on her the first time, actually…

* * *

"Right." A sceptical pegasus said to her teacher. "So you want me to go to Ponyville and make sure the sky is clear for that star show thing?"

"_Yes_, Dash." Princess Twilight replied. "And take Spike with you, he needs a bit of exercise. Oh, actually, if you could handle organizing things as well?"

"Pfeh." Dash shrugged. "If you want. What do you need?"

"Hmmm…" Princess Twilight frowned. "I think it's on the checklist, but I'm particularly concerned about making sure there's a mage on hand and… make sure the local schoolchildren have their trip to see the display scheduled right, as well. You should find who you need in the notes."

"Then I _am_ taking Spike." Dash said firmly. "No way _I'm_ going to read that much paperwork."

* * *

_What do you know,_ Twilight thought as she teleported into the familiar room of the Sisters' castle. _Loyalty was the crown this time. Neat._

Celestia as an earth pony was a bit stranger, but not by much. Her once-and-future mentor was equally comfortable as all three of the pony breeds, even more so than Luna (who was a unicorn for this particular loop).

"Well, _ah_ screwed up." Applejack muttered. "Nice of y'all to keep th' ecological reforms goin', though."

"Least I could do." Twilight replied sincerely. "It _was_ amazing work."

Then she turned to the Elements for this particular Loop. "Well done, by the way. All of you. Though… Dash, was it really necessary to carry all of them most of the way to the castle?"

"They were so slow!" Dash complained. "It was driving me nuts!"

"What did you expect?" Celestia replied. "You're so good at pegasus magic that you're taught by _Princess Twilight._"

Celestia was an interesting one, actually. She was the schoolteacher this loop. Cheerilee, meanwhile, was part of the local ecology team.

It was always interesting, how the Loops shuffled ponies around to fit their talents.

"Anyway." Twilight continued. "There's a harvest festival in a few months, sister. It's technically in your honour, so… perhaps you could spend it with these fine ponies?"

Several of the Elements flinched.

Fluttershy raised a hoof timidly. "Uh… will she let us have foods that aren't apple based?"

Twilight turned to Applejack.

"…all right, fine," the currently-smaller alicorn said. "But this is a big concession on my part."

* * *

7.5 (Moonstuck)

* * *

_You are Princess Twily. You are on the moon for some reason._

"Huh." Twilight said, looking around, and noticing that she was much younger than she usually started a loop. "This is new. And _by the princesses I am cute_!"

_You are overcome by your own cuteness._

"Hmmm…" Twilight looked up. "Where did that voice come from?"

_Stop breaking the fourth wall._

"Oh, sorry. Uh… inventory?"

_You have hooves. There is a chair and a fedora._

* * *

Additional from 6.3 (40K) (from Madfish)

* * *

Fluttershy walked among the drifts of the freezing valleys she found herself on at the start of the loop. She had had to restore her alicorn status just to survive the frozen wasteland, as the weather was the harshest she'd ever seen. She _could_ have allowed her self to die and end the loop for herself, but if the others were here somewhere they would need her help – given that the few times she had tried a spell beyond telekinesis, she'd felt sick as if monsters had tried to climb through her horn into her skull. Besides she owed it to her current companions' mother to make sure they grew up big and strong first.

"I hope Twilight's going to be ok," she said to the wolves beside her, "Without her magic she gets- twitchy..."

She trailed of as one of the wolves, a cub a bit larger than her pegasus self, drew her attention to a light flickering in the distance. Lights meant people, hopefully friendly people.

As they approached she found herself disappointed as all that was there was some sort of pod covered with ice. Scraping the ice of the hatch she gasped as she saw the child within.

The wolves panted, breath frosting in the air as they looked in at what had surprised their surrogate mother.

"No! You can't eat him. We're going to take this pod to shelter and we're going to help the poor dear. If no one comes for him you can think of him as your new little brother."

* * *

7.6 (from Namar13766)

* * *

"Okay, it's the Summer Sun celebration." Twilight paced. "How do we deal with Nightmare Moon this time?"

"I already took care of it," Rarity said, smugly.

"Rarity, do we have to worry about ending up in Hogwarts, Eikan, or the Bureau?" Twilight, and most of the others, shuddered at the thought. Rarity, for her part, simply looked indignant.

"Of course not! I've been planning this one for several loops."

Dash rolled her eyes cynically. "That just means it could blow up worse because you just told us."

"Dashie!" Pinkie tried to look stern, though the giggles ruined the effect. "Don't be a meanie pants!"

"Is it musical? Who's in it?"

"Well, I went to see Steven Magnet..." Rarity hinted.

* * *

"Oh-hohohoho! My _mustache_. How **wonderful**."

"You look _smashing_." _CURSE YOU NIGEL THORNBERRY!_

_"I. MUST. SING."_

It was a kind of sick fascination that kept Nightmare Moon watching.

"_25 years and I'm alive here still...,"_ He sang, dropping his head in sorrow.

_"Trying to get up that great big hill of hope_,_"_ drawing out the P with tears in his eyes.

_"For a destination."_ He looked up with a miserable face.

_"I realized quickly when I knew I should,"_ Steven drew up his hands operatically.

"_That the world was made up of this Brotherhood of man,"_ crossing his arms across his chest.

_"For whatever that means."_ Steven shrugged, and drew himself up.

Out of sight, Vinyl Scratch switched out the piano for a drumbeat, simultaneously making streaks of color with sparkles liberally interspersed appear.

"_And so I cry sometimes when I'm lying in bed, just to get it all out what's in my head, and I'm"_ He threw his head back as "I" echoed.

_"And I'm, I am feeling a little peculiar."_ His headbang was more of a headbob.

_"So I wake in the morning and I step outside_, a_nd I take deep breath and I get real HIGH,"_ looking directly at Nightmare Moon's astral form.

_"And I scream from the top of my lungs, What's goin' on?"_ He then grabbed her, shock preventing her from reacting.

_"And I say HEEEEY EY AAAEY EY AAAEY AY AY, HEEEEY EY AAAEY EY AY! I said Hey!_" He brought the princess poltergeist in close.

"_What's goin' on_?" Steven then dramatically flung his arms out...sending her flying.

* * *

Several Loops later

* * *

Several human loopers looked at each other with varying degrees of shock. Then they looked back at the earnest-looking purple unicorn.

"Your friends are scary," someone muttered.

Ranma smirked. "Okay, who can beat having a villain purified by a Meterosexual British River Serpent's Singing?"

* * *

7.7 (from Mandemon)

* * *

"Mama!" A way too cheery voice shouted. Twilight grumbled in her sleep. Had one of the Crusaders got into the Library? She merely turned her head instead of waking up.

"Mama!" The voice insisted. Aww, she was having such a good nap, they didn't make beds like these often.

"MAMA!" Guess there would be no rest. She slowly opened her eyes and turned to voice the annoying voice.

"What is it Celes..." Twilight fell silent. In front of her, _a filly sized Celestia_ stood with an incredibly grin on her face, holding a picture. Next to her, equally small and equally smiling Luna was holding her own picture.

"We made pictures!" Celestia said. Then the memories came. Twilight tried really hard not to show the rising panic on her face.

"Um... yes, they are very nice, now let mommy sleep, okay?" she managed.

"Aww, but you promised we would go see Aunty Pinkie!" Filly Luna pouted. Twilight was not sure whenever she should squee and hug her or be disturbed.

"Yes, um, we will be. Just, let mommy nap for five more minutes, okay?" She needed it. She needed _a lot_ more time than that, actually, but five minutes was probably all she could get.

"Okay!" Both fillies ran off. Once she was relatively sure they were gone, Twilight cast a silence spell and stuffed her head into the pillow. She really did not need memories of _a foal birth_.

* * *

"Celestia and Discord, sitting in a treehouse, _kiiiisss-_"

"SHUT UP! I don't have a crush on him!" Celestia shouted at Luna, who was giggling. Twilight was _still_ trying to adjust to the whole idea of suddenly being a parent. To her own mentor, to boot. According to her memories, she had been Chief Librarian of what was known as the Holy United Kingdom of Equestria and Griffin... lead by a several thousand years old _Spike_. According to those same memories, she had moved to Ponyville to raise her two children.

"Oh, hey Twilight!" Pinkie shouted. "Dissy! It's Twilight and the sisters!" A small draconequus looked out the upper floor, before jumping down and turning the land under him into a pillow. He tried to run to the sisters, but Pinkie stopped him. "Dissy, what have I said about turning things and not turning them back?"

"Never turn anything into different things and not revert them unless it is to help someone or it is very amusing." Discord said, looking down and holding his hands behind his back. Pinkie nodded happily and gave him a nudge.

"Okay, now go play with your friends."

"YAY! Divine Cutie Mark Seekers go!" All three shouted and ran off.

"That... was disturbing." Twilight muttered. "So, you're Discord's parent?"

"YUP! He is such a sweety, really! Never cleans his room, but he has his heart in the right place." Pinkie said. "Oh, and he just loves having fun, just like me!"

* * *

"So, while our… children… are looking for their cutie marks," Twilight paused, and went down a different track, "seriously, can Discord even have one?"

"I don't know, you're the one with the big library! I just know he is equally excited as your two little girls!" Pinkie said. Twilight was starting to doubt that Pinkie was even Awake. She was taking all this way too easily.

"Anyway, we might as well as see what others are doing." Twilight said, turning around the corner to see the orphanage where – according to her memories – Rarity and Applejack worked. However, before they got there they met Fluttershy, who was trying to hold down a very exited Cadance.

"Please mommy!? Can we go see Shining Armor? Please please please pleaaaaaase!?" Little Cadance was asking, while doing the best puppy eyes impression she could. To her credit, Fluttershy managed to hold out… for about five seconds.

"Alright, after we have bought these items, then we can go see Shining." Fluttershy said meekly. She did have experience with animals, but Cadance was something she had never faced before.

"YAAAAAAAAAY! Come on Mom! You're so slow!" The little filly said, jumping up and down, running back and forth the shop and Fluttershy.

"Need help?" Twilight asked she and Pinkie walked to her.

"Oh, it's okay, she's just eager to see Shining Armor..." Fluttershy began.

"Ohh! Pinkie Sense says someone has a cruuush~!" Pinkie Pie said, with Candance nodding.

"YUP! We are going to get married and then we are going to have a big wedding and cakes and a big castle and he is going to be my personal knight and..." Twilight more or less tuned out Cadance' increasingly rapid fire fantasy.

"Is Shining Armor aware of this... relationship?" Twilight asked.

"I think he likes her too, but is afraid other boys will make fun on him because of it..." Fluttershy said. "So, where are the Princ... Celestia and Luna?" She asked.

"Ran off with Discord to seek their cutie marks, though seeing how they seem to have kept their powers, I fe-" At that moment, a sudden down pour of orange juice fell on Twilight. Twilight merely looked upwards and saw the three kids, Celestia, Luna and Discord with a rather large bucket.

"Aww, apparently our specialty ain't pranking..." Discord said.

"How about farming?" Luna suggested.

* * *

"Alright, so, we are all here." Twilight said, looking down at her notes so far. "Spike is an ancient dragon that one day decided he'd grown tired of mortals ruining his day nap and… conquered the continent."

"Don't forget the part where he dried out the ocean between Equestria and Griffin Kingdoms, making them a single continent." Dash said, smirking. "All because one of the griffins dared to poke him."

"Right, that too. Well, looks like he isn't Awake, and if he is, he isn't showing it. So, main thing is... we are all parents. In one sense or other." Twilight said, shaking her head. "I really didn't need to those memories to begin with."

"Oh, it ain't that bad." Dash said. "At least it's fun to wat- SOMBRA! STOP PICKING ON YOUR SISTER!" She shouted at the sight of Sombra trying to scare Chrysalis with a bug. Which, seeing that Chrysalis was _still_ a changeling, was kinda weird.

"But moooom!" The little Sombra said, trying his best puppy eyes impression.

"No buts! Into the corner!"

"Aww..." Grumbling, but still obeying, Sombra walked into the corner and sat down. Chrysalis blew him a raspberry, before noticing the look Dash was giving to her and stopping.

"So, an orphanage?" Twilight asked Rarity.

"Yup. All those little ones, all in need of someone to hold them. Besides, Big Mac is just _adorable_ when he pouts!" Rarity said.

"Adorable? It's _hilarious_!" Applejack said. "I can never take him seriously again! I mean, sure, Granny Smith did hint at it but I never knew he was such a cry baby!"

* * *

7.8 (from Zulaq)

* * *

"Ok," Princess Twilight Sparkle turned away from the just closed doors to the throne room, "Whose turn is it to go evil and try and take over Equestria now?" she surveyed the nine other alicorns in the room.

"Oh, oh, me, me!" Princess Pinkie Pie shouted, bouncing up and down, "I have just the idea! I can throw a party! And then another party! And then another! And get this, all those parties will be part of my plan to TAKE OVER THE WORLD! Or they would be if it weren't for the fact that I'd rather party than actually rule. I wonder if that takes me out of contention?"

"Darling, I don't really think you can use parties to take over the world," Princess Rarity said somewhat haughtily.

"She can," Twilight replied flatly, before shuddering slightly "And you don't want to know the details."

"Whose stupid idea was it to alternate who goes evil, and who gets to be a mentor to a new hero anyway?" Princess Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yours Dash. I think you said something about not wanting to spend a thousand years trapped on the moon and not being able to take a nap, again." Twilight explained somewhat tiredly, "And seeing as there are ten of us alicorns now," she gestured to the others who hadn't spoken yet, those being Princesses Luna, Celestia, Applejack, Cadence, Fluttershy, and the sole male among them, Prince Shining Armor. "We thought it would be fair if we each took 100 years, rather than any of us spending a full thousand on the moon."

"Well this stinks," Rainbow said, "I mean just look at what some of you guys have done," she turns to Princess Applejack, "I mean seriously, Hard Truth? Couldn't you come up with a better name for yourself? It was kina' hard for me to keep a straight face when I told Spirit Wind about you."

"Now wait one doggon minute!" Princess Applejack countered Rainbow Dash, "Danger Dash wasn't even dangerous. You just pranked the country enough that people were practically on all four knees begging us to stop you!"

"Yeah, well that's better than simply making everypony tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth!" Dash argued.

"Now ladies," Princess Celestia interrupted, "I'm sure that you know that the truth can be a beautiful and terrible thing."

"Dids't thou just quote Albus Dumbledore?" Princess Luna inquired of her sister incredulously, "Really?"

"Oh come on, stop arguing," Twilight interjected, "It's getting us nowhere, and besides we already have a schedule written up, and it's-"

"My turn, little sis." Prince Shining Armor broke in with a grin, "I can't wait."

"What are you smiling about, Shining?" Princess Cadence asked her husband, "It means that we won't be able to see each other for a century!"

"Two words darling." Shining said with an even bigger grin, "Makeup sex."

"Ohhh." Cadence said, her eyes glowing a bit. Her voice dropped a bit and became husky, "I can't wait. We can do that thing using those pirate outfits you think I haven't noticed."

"Gah!" Twilight practically screamed, bringing her hooves up to her eyes, "I didn't need that mental image of my brother!"

"Well it's a good thing you're not married to him isn't it, little sister." Cadence said cheerfully, before turning back to Shining, "So what's your plan for going evil?"

"Oh, I was thinking about something along the lines of kidnapping a certain princess." Shining said with a lecherous grin, "and holding her hostage until the other Princesses agree that I become the sole ruler of Equestria!"

"So when do you want to start?" asked Celestia.

"Right now!" With that Prince Shining Armor leaped up, used his magic to levitate Princess Cadence and leapt out of the adjoining balcony, "Catch me if you caaan!" He shouted on his way out.

The remaining eight princesses just stared after him in silence before Princess Fluttershy asked, "So, maybe we should go after them?"

Rainbow Dash just looks at Fluttershy askew, "Seriously? I think we'll need to give them a bit of time to 'cool off' first. Maybe a decade or two will do."

* * *

"Ok, so who's left?" Princess Twilight Sparkle asked of her fellow co-rulers of Equestria, "We've had Nightmare Moon attempt to make an eternal night."

At the mention of Nightmare Moon, Princess Luna perked up, "We have had much time to practice our detransformation, but that was the first time we've ever repeated the transformation. I daresay we outdid ourself."

"Yeah, yeah," Princess Rainbow Dash waved her hooves, "I don't get what was so special about turning the moon to cheese, or that thing about 'Night Eternal' is the only way you could get it to age properly."

"Thou simply hast no sense of taste." Luna scoffed, "It was the finest brie ever made."

"It was!" Princess Pinkie Pie interjected, "It was just perfect for all those parties I threw as Party Pink!"

"That was a lot of parties, darling." Princess Rarity sighed, "I daresay I probably put on more than a few pounds at them."

"A few pounds!" Princess Applejack said, laughing, before making a gesture with her hooves as far apart as she could make them, "I think you were about this big by the time you realized. And then you singlehoofedly beat her and banished her to the moon. Or at least what was left of it after Pinkie finished carving it up for parties."

Princess Rarity looked like she was about to start a big argument with Applejack, but Twilight stepped in before the two mares could really get going, "Moving on. After Party Pink, we had Blazing Sun. I have to say you did an excellent job with that Celestia."

Princess Celestia blushed a bit, "It wasn't much. I've had a lot watching Lulu do it, so I just sort of copied her actions a bit." She turned to Princess Luna, "Although I am sorry about your cheese."

Princess Luna looked rather downbeat, "It took over two hundred years for it to get just ripe enough. And then thou melted it!" And with that she began crying.

"There, there," Princess Fluttershy reassured her, "At least it made the moon round again after Pinkie's parties."

"But all that cheese, Wasted!" Luna wailed, "And that cute little cottage cheese cottage we made for us to stay in was completely gone. And what was left was burnt!"

"Uh, moving on again," Twilight interjected in-between Luna's wailing about dead cheese, "After that we had Danger Dash, who pranked people until they could be pranked no more."

"Eh, the old fall back was good enough for me," Princess Rainbow Dash said, "It worked the first time, and I moderated myself a bit so the elements would let me sleep this time." She paused a bit, before running a hoof along her wings, "Although getting all that goopy, melted cheese off of my wings was a bit of a pain."

"After Danger Dash, we had me, Eternal Twilight." Twilight said proudly.

"Meh," Rainbow Dash yawned, "You didn't really do that much. I mean your whole plan revolved around owning a copy of every book ever written, and then enslaving everypony in your library paradise. Where was the action! The excitement! I mean you even made sure to treat your slaves well; I think the worst thing that happened to them was a papercut."

"Well it's not exactly efficient to work them to death." Twilight defended herself, "Do you have any idea how hard it is to train someone to work in a library properly?"

"Yeah, Twily," Prince Shining Armor put in. "I mean, the only reason why we had to banish you was because you wanted to expand your library to the whole castle. Not exactly threatening."

"Oh really," Twilight said, her eyes narrowing, "And what about you. You turned into Dashing Armor, then you kidnapped Cadence."

"And?"

"And there is no 'and'. You kidnapped her, and then the two of you took a century long second honeymoon! At no point did we have to send you to the moon. Do you know how embarrassing it was to explain to my student that she had to go get my brother and sister-in-law because they let their second honeymoon go on too long, and we really, really needed them back at the court?"

Twilight paused, and gathered her thoughts for a moment, "Anyway, moving on, again. After that we had Hard Truth. I must say, I didn't really think making everypony tell the truth all the time was much of an evil plan, but… you made it work, Applejack."

"Shucks, It weren't nothin'" Princess Applejack blushed, "Nopony knows more than me how the truth can make or break a relationship."

"Ok, and after that we had Loving Evening," at this Twilight drooped a bit, "whose plan consisted of kidnapping Shining Armor, and going on your third honeymoon. Seriously, Cadence?"

Princess Cadence blushed a bit, "Well when a pony has an itch, she wants it taken care of." She looked at Shining Armor, and her blush deepened. "And I daresay that I have the best way to relive it, ever."

"Please, spare me the details," Twilight said dryly, "And after that we had The Fasionista! (exclamation mark included), who forced everypony to wear fashionable clothes, whether they wanted to or not."

"Oh darling, The Fashionista! was my most brilliant idea ever." Rarity gushed with a glow in her eyes, "If it weren't for Rainbow Dash I'd never have had to have seen somepony wearing anything out of fashion ever again!" She let out a somewhat disturbing laugh, and the other nine alicorns moved away from her nervously.

"And now it's Fluttershy's turn" Twilight said once she'd recovered, "So-"

"Wait a moment!" Rainbow Dash interrupted, "I don't think this is a good idea Twi."

"Nonsense," Twilight dismissed her, "We all agreed in the beginning we'd take turns being the villain, and now it's Fluttershy's turn."

"I hate to say it," Applejack interjected, "But I agree with Dashie. You haven't forgotten that incident with Iron Will, have you?"

"Oh come on. What could go wrong?" Twilight said blithely, overriding her friends' concerns, "It's Fluttershy's turn, and that's all there is too it."

"Well," Princess Fluttershy said quietly, "I guess, if you think it's alright."

Fluttershy seemed to compose herself, before her eyes flashed red and she turned to Twilight Sparkle. She spoke, her mouth containing far too many, and far too pointed teeth for a normal pony, "I AM FLYING HATRED. AND YOU ALL WILL BOW BEFORE ME! ALL SHALL LOVE ME AND DESPAIR!"

* * *

7.9 (from DrTempo) (Metal Gear Solid universe)

* * *

Spike shook his claw in pain.

"Why won't you die?"

Spike had enjoyed this loop. Not every day he was a badass cyborg… Though the beginning where he was a whiny rookie on the Big Shell bothered him. Man, that whole ending had given him a MASSIVE headache.

And now, he was fighting Blueblood…or his counterpart, anyway. And he wouldn't stay down!

Cue Blueblood tearing off his shirt.

"Nanomachines, son!"

Spike shook his head at this. "Forget this." He drew a lightsaber, and went to town on Blueblood.

"Protect yourself from THIS."

* * *

At Mission Control, Twilight shook her head. "And he was doing so well… right, how do I explain away a lightsaber." After a moment, she answered her own question. "Of course. Nanomachines. Silly me."

* * *

As Blueblood went down, deader than dead, Spike smirked. He'd enjoyed cutting that jerk up like a Hearth's Warming turkey. Then Blade Wolf arrived, carrying the Murasama.

His jaw dropped. "Oh. Why did you need this thing again?"

* * *

7.10 (Namar13766)

* * *

Twilight looked at her friends in the library. "So what's our plan for this loop?"

Rarity chuckled. "Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and I think we'll take a vacation for this loop. What about you?"

Applejack chuckled, "Well, after hearing Sheppard's music, I think I'll turn Big Macintosh into a Country Music Singer."

Pinkie smiled, before turning into Pinkamena Diane Pie, causing her friends to flinch...before noticing that the expression was the same Pinkie. "I'm also going to take a vacation." Fluttershy opened her mouth, before being cut off by Pinkie. "While looking like this, just to see how people react."

Rainbow rustled her wings slightly. "So what will you be up to Twilight?"

"I'm thinking of trying something with Zecora." She levitated a familiar book in front of herself.

* * *

Five of the loopers looked at the coronation of a new Alicorn in shock. Twilight looked slightly smug.

"Well, I think this settles the question of how similar zebras are to ponies, wouldn't you say?"

It was sort of a pity that Zecora wasn't looping, actually, because that meant the ascension was for this loop only. But it was an interesting proof of concept.

* * *

7.11 (Mandemon)

(This one came from a typo which misspelt Sombra.)

* * *

"You have to be kidding me." Twilight said.

"Cryyyyysssstaaaallls... heaaaaaarts..." A drooling Crystal Pony was walking towards Twilight and her friends, who were not awake in this loop.

"Unfortunately, Zonpies created by Zombra tend to be like this." Candance said, blasting one of the infected ponies. "They spread the infection by biting you."

"And you want us to go into the deepest pit of their lair, to find the source of the infection?" Applejack asked.

"You know what? Buck it." Twilight said, and turned into an alicorn.

"WHOA NELLY!" Applejack jumped a foot into the air. The others were a little better able to control their shock, but not much.

"Let's see... how did Nanoha do it again... Oh right!" Twilight planted her hoof with a _crack_. "STARLIGHT BREAKER!"

A massive beam hit the castle, tearing through the walls and mindlessly shambling infected Zonpies. In the middle of the hive, a mass of flesh and crystals opened one of its many eyes to see a bright light approaching. Funnily enough, its last thought was "Not again."

* * *

7.12 (Filraen)

**PLEASE NOTE**: this loop was previously posted incomplete. This is entirely my fault, and the following version is the complete, edited, definitive one.

* * *

Ranma Saotome was going on a walk, getting used to this new body and loop.

He was on a new loop, of that he was certain, after distracting the Lovely Angels into a mission to a G-Stone powered Death Star, whose predictable result was the destruction of the whole galaxy. Honestly, given how bad the loop ended he was surprised he wasn't on Eiken. _'Then again, better lose a G-Stone and a Death Star than deal personally with Kei and Yuri when Awake…'_, Ranma shuddered at the thought of what could have happened again.

Then there was his body: a dark blue-colored small horse. While it wasn't the strangest body Ranma has inhabited, having replaced the bodiless Voldemort a few times, the lack of fingers felt just plain weird. Though… he didn't seem to stand out, in this population of small horses as colorful as the rainbow. It actually made him remember Nanoha's tale of a certain unicorn, a new anchor, she met some time ago. Probably he was in the unicorn's loop.

Apparently his name here was Rapid Hooves and the town he was in was named Ponyville, a nice enough place at first glance, _'though with my luck I can only hope it stays like that'_. Still, better be careful: learn the ropes now to play pranks later.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" an acute shriek filled the air. When Ranma looked at the direction he saw a cloud of smoke going into his way, whose cause was apparently a bright pink colored horse with a cotton candy-like mane, probably a she.

The mare rounded Ranma a few times looking at him carefully while his sense of panic started to fire like crazy and he finally realized three things: first, he was definitely a stallion here; second, he didn't remember seeing any males; and third, he was naked. _'Why I always have to get the crazy ones?'_ To his surprise though, the crazy pink mare just stopped, looked at him in the eye and began running in another random direction.

That was strange.

* * *

"Twilight! Twilight!" The pink earth pony jumped by Twilight Sparkle's side.

"What's up Pinkie Pie?" The unicorn kept reading her book.

"I met a new pony today!" That made Twilight stop reading. She knew Pinkie Pie knew everypony who lived in Ponyville from her custom to launch "Welcome to Ponyville" parties, and then even extended to Equestria since the loop the Pincesses asked Pinkie Pie to make a census of Equestria's pony population. To have Pinkie Pie meet somepony she had never met before it was very strange. _'Unless...'_

"How does this new pony look?" On this question Pinkie Pie started to jump again, even more quickly.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! I know that one! Let me see... he was an earth pony who had two eyes, two forelegs, two hindlegs and a mane. Also he was dark blue in color and had his mane in a black braid." That solved a few things, she didn't remember an earth pony with a braid other than Applejack. "Oh! and I also found him by following the most strange doozy: left ear three round right, right ear two rounds left and four pulls from my tail."

Twilight frowned a little. "That's a new Pinkie Sense, what does that mean?" One of there loops she had to understand how that worked.

"I'm not sure, but I've only felt it once before, when we met Hiccup and you weren't around." Pinkie tried to show how big Hiccup's dragon had been.

_'That loop? Then that means...'_ "Ok Pinkie, you win. Looks like you'll host your first 'Welcome to Equestria's Loop' party. I want to inform the Princesses though, they are awake this time."

"Okie dokie lokie! I'll prepare my Party Cannon Mk. pi for this new friend!" Pinkie said, putting her right hoof in a salute.

Twilight Sparkle put a leaf inside the book to continue reading it later "All right Pinkie. By the way, what's his-" but by the time Twilight looked again at her friend Pinkie had already left "- name?". Ok, never mind. Better find Spike, she had a letter to send.

* * *

_Dear Princess Celestia,_

_I send this letter to tell you information of great importance. Not five minutes ago I received a visit from Pinkie Pie to tell me she found a pony she has never meet before, who she believes is actually a looper. As such Pinkie decided to throw him a 'Welcome to Equestria' party._

_Since Pinkie Pie is already making preparations for the party I believe it will start within the hour. Should you and Princess Luna wish to attend it I think you should teleport directly into Ponyville Library._

_I'm sorry to send this letter so little time beforehoof but Pinkie Pie was very enthusiastic to throw the party quickly. Nevertheless, I have great hopes in Pinkie Pie and everypony to make this party a success, both as a student of the Magic of Friendship and as Equestria's Anchor._

_Your faithful student,_

_Twilight Sparkle_

* * *

"...and send it, Spike."

The child dragon looked at the scroll suspiciously "Looper? Anchor? You aren't making any sense, Twilight."

The purple unicorn just threw him an apologetic look "Sorry, I'll explain later. Please just go along for now, OK?"

"Fine," and with a burst of flame Spike sent the now rolled letter to the Princess. "Letter on its way. Now what?"

"Now we find the girls. Let's meet at the Library in half an hour." Twilight said.

Hearing that, Spike started to run. "I'll go to Carrousel Boutique first! See you later, Twilight."

Twilight Sparkle just smiled.

* * *

"Hey!"

Ranma looked around for the voice who was calling him, but saw nobody.

"Hey, you, new pony!"

Well, if there's nobody around there must be - _'Up there!'_

"At last! You'd swear nopony ever looks up." That was a light blue horse, apparently standing in the cloud looking down on him.

"I don't remember seeing you around here, and Pinkie Pie said she had met somepony new today." And apparently he was wrong, as when flying down the cloud he realized the horse was actually a pegasus, a pegasus whose mane was literally as colorful as the rainbow.

The pegasus grinned "I'm Rainbow Dash, the coolest and fastest pegasus of all Equestria and local weather manager. Your name?"

"Ran-pid Hooves. I just arrived here."

Rainbow Dash looked at Ranma as if measuring him. "Rapid Hooves, huh? So, how fast do you are?"

"Never really pushed myself, but I think I can do pretty good." Technically true. After all he had just found himself in this body.

"But not as fast as me." For Ranma the feeling of a yet-untold challenge from a stranger met just by walking around was... nostalgic.

Not being one to stand down, Ranma upped the ante. "You'd think, but you're the fastest pegasus only because I don't have wings."

"All right Rapid Hooves, it's on! See the tree by the end of the street? That's Twilight's house, the first pony to enter the house wins."

Why not? After all a bit of a run may help to understand this new body. "Just say the word, Rainbow Dash. And prepare to lose."

"At the count of three. One, two, three!" And then they started.

In the end Ranma wasn't sure who won the race as he got entangled with Rainbow Dash to enter through the designed-for-one-horse door. He knew neither he nor Rainbow was going as fast as they could, though, and he suspected the pegasus also knew it. Overall, the body may need a little time to get used to but he had the whole loop for that. Still, he'd miss having fingers.

Now that he thought about it, it was strange… the door was opened yet it was dark inside-

*click* "SURPRISE!"

Ranma looked around to what looked like a surprise party: balloons, confetti, foods, drinks and some cake on tables... for the pegasus perhaps? It wasn't like he knew anybody yet in this world. Until he looked at a giant banner over the horses and unicorns.

**Welcome to Equestria's Loop.**

"What?"

"It's him, right? The looper you found, Pinkie Pie." Rainbow Dash called to the crazy pink mare from a while before.

"Yes Rainbow!" Pinkie looked even more like she was in a sugar rush. She took Ranma's equivalent to right hand into of her forelegs and shook them energetically. "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie. What's your name? How long have you been on Equestria? What is your world called? Do you like cake? Everypony I know loves cake, and that's one of the reasons I love to work in Sugarcube Corner here and why I want to..."

"Pinkie! Let him stand up." A purple unicorn interrupted Pinkie Pie. Thankfully.

"Oops, sorry." Said the pink horse... pony? Before letting go of Ranma.

After standing up, the looping male pony asked the group "So, let me this straight. All of you are Awake right now."

"Except Spike here, yes." The purple unicorn pointed to the little lizard by her side.

"And she found me and realized I was also a looper." Ranma asked pointing to Pinkie Pie.

"Yes." The unicorn answered again. You'd expect one of the bigger unicorns in the back might be better choices to play spokesperson.

"And then you decided to throw a welcome party for me?"

"Actually the party was Pinkie Pie's idea." The unicorn said while pointed to the pink mare.

"I wasn't going to let the chance to throw a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party go, but in your case you were new to Equestria so the other banner wouldn't work here; to think I'd have the chance to make a welcome party for somepony from another world... I think I'd have used few more star-pattered balloons because stars and worlds are so close but I couldn't find them, and then I decided on starfish but I realized 'aren't we too far from the sea to get starfish?' so I threw away the idea and decided to go with the multicolor balloons..."

"Wait, just one question: how did you realize I was a looper too?" Ranma asked, stopping Pinkie Pie's rambling once again.

"But that's obvious, because I know everypony who lives in Equestria." Wait, just like that?

"Everyone everyone?"

"Nope, everpony." The others don't seem to be surprised by the answer… so it was probably true.

"Well, I think I'll take your word from it. Better start with introductions: my name here is Rapid Hooves, but you can imagine that isn't my real name because I'm looping too. My real name is Ranma Saotome."

"What?! The first anchor?!" The purple unicorn was about to start talking excitedly when a single word stopped her.

"Twilight..." From one of the bigger unicorns in the back, the white one... they also have wings too, so pegacorn.

The purple unicorn flinched before throwing her a short apologetic look and returning to business. "Oh yes, sorry Princess. My name is Twilight Sparkle. I'm Equestria's Anchor and my friends here are the other loopers from this world..."

* * *

In the end, Twilight Sparkle _was_ the unicorn anchor who had met Nanoha. She introduced herself as the local librarian and calling herself a student of "the Magic of Friendship." _'No wonder Nanoha seemed to like her'_. The party itself had gone without incident other than some spontaneous firing of cannons from Pinkie Pie. Oddly, it happened to use a table with tablecloth, a punch bowl, glasses and snacks as ammunition... a trick to learn later.

Now there was time to meet the Princesses, something Ranma was a bit wary of. Apparently they had to make the party private so nobody realized they were here.

"So, do you have any plans for this loop?" Celestia asked.

"Not really, Your Highness" Better be polite with royalty, they always know how to screw with you.

"Princess, please." The Sun Princess corrected.

"Oh, right. Well, Princess, I just started this loop and I was actually thinking of going and learning how things worked in this world."

"I can see that, there are many things that are better to learn first hoof. But please, if you have anything you'd like, big or small, don't be afraid to ask Twilight Sparkle. We are in constant communication." As on cue Spike appeared and burned a rolled scroll, which vanished and appeared right in front of her.

"Well, Princess..." why did his weakness have to be women? "…in my own experience, most rulers who are as generous as you claim to be always have something _you_ do for _them_." Even a Seto Kamiki Jurai, hopefully still non-looping, can be a pain after she got her sights on you.

"Oh, but there is one little thing you can do for me..." Celestia told Ranma, closing her eyes with a predatory grin, and Ranma felt the blood draining from his face. Looked like Equestria won't be the safe haven he thought it would be.

"W-hat is it P-princess?"

Princess Celestia opened her eyes as if she was a child entering a sweet shop. "Stories of your previous loops, of course!"

Huh?!

Celestia's composed yet cheerful tone continued "According to Twilight Sparkle, Equestria's loop is relatively new in relation to other worlds, and I'm even not Awake as often as I want! Twilight has told me about other places but I've been out of Equestria only a few times. But sadly we have an important mission here in Equestria, as I raise the Sun every day and my sister raises the Moon every night.

"I understand that by your looper standards I'm just a filly so I want to know what happens. This is the most interesting development we've had in centuries, and I want to help them," Celestia pointed to the other ponies in the room, "as much as I can."

Internally Ranma sighed in relief. _'For one moment I thought the mares were going to-'_

"But there's also another reason." Celestia told him when the dark blue pegacorn... alicorn walked to her side, Princess Luna, both hardening their expressions and shifting their positions into a more regal one.

"Even before the loops started my sister Luna and I have ruled Equestria for over a millenia, and we are proud to believe in its founding principles: Harmony and the Magic of Friendship. We believe in friendship and redemption, in always working together so the next day, even if that day is in the past, is better than today, and in always have a place to call home and return."

Princess Luna continued where her sister left off "And 'tis with conviction and knowledge, true and certain in equal measure, that a soul may become heavy in the course of long life; that we, the Diarchs of Equestria, offer you, Ranma Saotome, together with any other Looper willing to accept, be they pony in form or no, our fair land as a place of sanctuary and respite from the wearying travel 'twixt worlds and loops."

Ranma was dimly aware that the other ponies bowed to the Princesses while he weighted what he was _really_ being offered.

After coming to a decision, Ranma sighed heavily, stood tall in front of the Princesses and nodded with a smile in his face. "Sure, let's give it a shot." Who knows, it may even work for some time after all. They all seem to be a nice enough group.

He _was_ going to miss having fingers though.

* * *

7.13 (Rufus Shinra and Lord of Bones)

* * *

_Celly,_

_Got over the Eternal Night thing. Am on vacation. Will send postcard with pictures of any studly pool colts._

_Hugs and kisses,_

_Luna._

* * *

"What's that sound?" asked the waiter stallion on the beach.

"Just my sister's plans for the next few years crashing and burning," answered the alicorn, drinking another cocktail with a smile on her face.

* * *

7.14

* * *

Celestia knocked on the door of her sister's apartments. "Luna?"

No reply.

"Luna! The sun's going down in a few minutes."

Still no reply. Celestia opened the door and peered in. "Are you sleeping in ag-aaaah!"

"What?" the jet-black alicorn inside asked, her slit green eyes blinking in the sudden light. "Oh, Our apologies. We forgot to set Our alarm."

"Nightmare Moon!" Celestia said, getting over her shock and lighting her horn.

"Yes, We know We have slept in, Infernal Blaze." Nightmare Moon… rolled over out of bed and started getting dressed.

Celestia's spell collapsed, as she tried to work out what the _her_ was going on.

* * *

"Twilight!" Celestia said, teleporting into the Books and Branches library. "Nightmare Moon is back!"

"So?" her students' voice said from behind her. "It _is_ the evening. That's her job."

Celestia turned to the voice, and saw her student… with an aura of dim light around her, a pair of wings, and her eyes blazing with an internal fire.

Spike was standing next to her. Or, more _lying_ next to her. That was because he was fifteen feet long, matte black and possessed of both a wide, salamander-esque mouth and huge wings.

Celestia stared for a moment more, then ran out the door.

* * *

"_Five_ of them." Celestia said to herself. "How could this have happened?"

It had been bad enough when the two other Elements of Harmony in town had also turned out to be alicorns – their coats with the unnatural colouration of corruption. Worse still were the huge fangs of whatever sweet Fluttershy had become, and the crimson fires coursing over Applejack's body.

The fact that they were still doing their daily routines was just _weird._

She was distracted by a flash of blue. "Wait!" she called, hoping it was who she thought it was.

A moment later, Rainbow Dash came back down to land in front of her. Mercifully, the pegasus was unchanged.

"Thank goodness. I have terrible news, Rainbow Dash. All the other Elements are-"

There was a loud BANG, and she jumped at the shock.

"Hah!" Dash shouted. "Got you! The old firecracker trick!" As she spoke, she _shifted_. Her mane grew more vibrant, then got pushed aside by a horn. She gained an extra few inches, and her eyes flashed with fire. As an afterthought, she added "Oh, and it's Danger Dash, by the way. Well, so long, I have to go deliver some rain."

Celestia sat back on her haunches, flabbergasted.

* * *

"Well?" Dash asked, crowding around the table where the other Elements, Spike and Luna were already sitting.

"I think it worked." Twilight replied, grinning. "She's boarded up her room and says she won't come out until things start making sense."

* * *

AN:

Okay, here's number seven. My thanks again to everyone who contributed.

And yes, 7.13 really DID have that many people contributing.


	8. Chapter 8

8.1

* * *

"Well, this sucks." An earth pony with a pink mane kicked at the moon's surface. "Looks like they weren't lying…"

* * *

The remaining two ponies from that group stared at the Elements of Harmony.

"…really?" the orange pegasus asked, like someone who had given up all hope and who was now seeing a chance again.

"Hn." The black unicorn from the group put in. "Nice to see _someone_ can control Sakura."

Twilight blushed, as she and the other five Elements powered down. "Thank you. But we said this was a safe Loop, and we _meant_ it."

The orange pegasus beat the air with his wings and took off. "I'm going to go spend the entire loop doing something nice and safe. Like sculpting. Clouds. Later, Sasuke!"

Sasuke considered. "Yeah, I agree with Naruto. Any calm, safe, boring things we could do?"

Fluttershy hummed. "Your speciality is… lightning, I think?" Sasuke nodded. "Then perhaps you could do transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. You know, little electrical shocks to help with therapy."

"…that doesn't sound that bad, actually." Sasuke said.

* * *

8.2

* * *

Rainbow Dash Awoke, and saw Fluttershy falling in front of her. The pegasus paused, taking a fraction of a second to check the others via her link to Loyalty.

All six of them were here, and Awake.

_Excellent._

She dove into a stoop, wings whirring. "I'm coming, Fluttershy!"

They'd discussed what to do next time this particular variant loop came up…

Rainbow Dash hit mach one, broke the sound barrier, and was engulfed in a flash of prismatic light.

* * *

Twilight looked determinedly at the egg. _Right._

The first time, it had taken the boost from the Rainboom to hatch Spike. The second time… it had been easier.

The third time, Twilight poured as much magic as she could muster into the egg. There was a crackling _boom_, and half the wall was pushed aside by Spike's body as he exploded from egg to young adult dragon in an instant.

Twilight wobbled on her hooves. "Ooh… I don't feel so well…" and fell backwards. "Wow… hey, cool. Look, Mum, Dad! I've got wings!" She fluttered them. "They're pretty!"

Twilight Twinkle and Night Light exchanged a look. The look spoke eloquently of the need for alcohol.

Princess Celestia galloped into the room. "What happened? I heard the wall collapse-" she saw the dragon trying to extract himself gently from the wall, and the filly alicorn in front of the hole, and her brain went blank. "Huh."

"Oh, wow!" Twilight said, stumbling back to her feet. "Princess Celestia!" She gave a bow. "It's nice to meet you, your highness."

"…yes. Nice to meet you." Celestia managed.

* * *

"Are you okay?" Gilda asked, backwinging hard to land next to the tangle of pegasi. "Dash? That was awesome, but I hope you managed to slow down…"

A blue wing twitched feebly, then Fluttershy extricated herself from Rainbow Dash and started to help her get back on her feet. "Um… thank you, Dash. For saving me."

"Yeah, yeah…" Dash muttered, rubbing her forehead. "I wish those butterflies had slowed us down more, though… at least I cushioned you."

Now that her friend was clearly out of danger, Gilda relaxed. "That _was_ cool, like I said. You broke the flippin' _sound barrier_, Dash! I – wait, what's that on your forehead?"

"Huh?" Dash reached up and felt it. When her hair moved aside, it was clearly a short horn – like one might find on a unicorn.

Gilda boggled. "You been hidin' things, Dash?"

"No, this is new." Dash said, sounding bewildered. "And I – hey, Flutters! You've got your cutie mark!"

"So have you." Fluttershy said.

"And _you've_ got a horn too, what was it - Fluttershy?" Gilda looked completely lost. "Is that something that happens to _all_ you pegasus ponies? Or just the ones that hit the ground after a rainboom?"

"Hay if I know." Dash wobbled on her feet slightly, steadied, and gave her wings an experimental flap. "Okay, I think I can fly now. Let's go back up there."

* * *

"Mum! Dad!" Rarity shouted. "Look what I made!"

"Wow!" Rarity's mother said, looking at the dress Rarity hovered up for her. "That's very impressive. What's it made of?"

"Water." Rarity replied. "I did magic on it."

"Oh, and did you do the same for the costume you're wearing?" her father said. "Did you do magic on that too? You've worked very fast. I guess we found your special talent."

Rarity inclined her head. "Nah, these aren't a costume." Her parents' eyes widened as she spread the wings they'd thought were fake, and hovered up to eye level. "They just came from somewhere. Is this one of those things you said you'd explain when I was older, like where my sister came from?"

* * *

"Huh." Clyde said, watching as his daughter took to the air and began casting spells. "I ain't as surprised as I might be."

"She always did have her head in the clouds," his wife nodded.

"Oh, you." Clyde gave her a look.

* * *

Valencia Orange jumped as Applejack materialized next to her in a flash of orange magic. "Hi, Auntie! Fer some reason ah got a horn an' wings, an' so ah'm going to commute!"

"…what?" Valencia said, her urbane nature completely deserting her.

"Well, ah saw this big flash o' light in the sky as ah was decidin' to go back to Sweet Apple Acres, and then ah got my cutie mark," she showed it off to the staggered mare, "And then ah just… found ah had wings. And a horn."

Applejack shrugged, bouncing around. "Ah don't know where they came from, but ah worked out how t' teleport easy! So, anyway, ah can come over here whenever ah feel like it! Ah don't have t' choose!"

"…okay." Valencia managed. "Hold on a minute, Applejack, I have to go and… calm my nerves."

Applejack nodded. "Okay!"

_Wonder if she's going to have a brandy…_

* * *

"Right." Celestia said, looking slightly awkwardly over the half-dozen alicorn fillies sitting in front of her. "I don't know why, but all six of you became alicorns at more-or-less the same time last week. I realize you might be having some trouble fitting in with your peers after… what happened," that was probably a considerable understatement, "and so I've asked someone else who has also been through something like this to help you through it. Any of you can speak to her if you have trouble, over anything – not just what is related directly to your transformation."

Celestia gestured. "Cadence, if you would."

The eighth and last alicorn in the room stepped forward. "Hello. My name is Cadence, and I used to be a pegasus until about two years ago. It's nice to meet you all."

"Hello, Cadence." Five fillies chorused.

Twilight, meanwhile, was sniggering. "I know you! You're my foalsitter. And my brother has a photo of you that he keeps trying to hide from me!"

Cadence flushed, and the rest of the fillies started giggling as well.

* * *

"Well, this seems to be working out well." Rarity said, sipping some juice.

"Yep!" Pinkie agreed. "This is the earliest we've ever been introduced to each other!"

* * *

8.3 (continuation of 7.14)

* * *

"Princess?" Twilight's voice asked.

Celestia mumbled something from beneath her pillow.

"We'd like to come in and apologize."

Celestia thought it over. On the one hand, the corrupted version of Twilight had sounded just like that… but on the other hand, if there were seven evil alicorns after her they could probably have demolished the castle, whatever Celestia answered. "Alright, come in," she said, pulling the nails out of the planks across her door.

One by one, the ponies outside filed in. Luna was back to normal, but the Elements of Harmony were all… different, was the best way to put it. They still had their horns and wings, and were their normal colours.

"Okay." Twilight said, once they'd all entered. "Basically, there's a strange phenomenon that's been going on for a long time…"

* * *

"Did you have to promise that?" Dash asked.

"Well, we _did_ scare her quite badly…" Twilight replied. "And when you think about it, she's been working for over a thousand years without a break."

"Yeah, I suppose." The alicorn rustled her wings. "I could have done without us becoming the government this time, though. I did have a plan…"

Twilight shrugged. "At least there's seven of us to spread the load."

"True."

Pinkie grinned. "I've never seen a coronation ceremony happen so fast! She got all six of us confirmed as Princesses Regnant in five minutes flat!"

* * *

Discord's statue shattered open. "Right, time for some fun… where's Celly, she's usually good for a laugh… oh." He looked around. "Are alicorns more common these days?"

Princess Twilight nodded. "Pretty much."

The others moved into position.

Fluttershy spoke up. "Now, mister Discord, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way, or the angry way."

"You _really_ want to take the easy way." Twilight confided.

"Hmmm…" Discord pulled an application form out of thin air. "Where's the small print?"

"The easy way is that you don't get all chaotic." Rarity started. "Then we see if you're willing to learn about friendship."

"Hm…" the draconequus tapped his beard. "Boring. What's the hard way?"

Five necklaces and a crown flashed into existence.

"Right, right. More statue time. I think I've had my fill of that for now. What's the angry way?"

Most of the alicorns dove for cover.

Fluttershy blinked. Once, twice… and then she smiled.

It wasn't a nice smile. There were too many teeth for that.

* * *

Discord hovered past Twilight, dropping his tattered application form.

She picked it up. The box for 'easy way' was ticked three times, and had a note attached saying 'for the love of me, easy waaaaay'.

"That's nice of him." Twilight mused, grinning. "Okay, 'shy, you can stop now."

Flying Hatred reverted instantly to Princess Fluttershy. "Okay. I hope I wasn't too hard on him…"

* * *

_Dear Princess Celestia._

_Discord tried to escape. Can you believe it? Fortunately, we were all ready for him, and he's doing community service – mainly in local classrooms. Apparently he's demonstrating what physics isn't._

_I liked the last postcard of yours. It looks like there's a lovely view from the top of that mountain._

_I'm glad you're enjoying your holiday. Might I suggest the griffin lands next? I've heard there are some canyons there where the wind plays a tune as it blows through the rocks._

* * *

Disguised as a common guard, Chrysalis of the Changelings waited for her chance to strike. She'd spent the past month learning the routine and personality of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and the time was ripe for her to replace the fool pony and usurp her place at the wedding in a months' time.

"Oh, that's nice." She heard her target say. "Shining, your sister says she's visiting with her friends."

Chrysalis' ears pricked. Another distraction. Another wait.

"Did she say when she's coming?" The unicorn asked.

"Er… right now."

Chrysalis nearly fell over as a huge flash of teleportation magic erupted not a length from where her disguised self was standing. When she'd recovered somewhat, she looked and felt for whoever this sister was-

And saw no fewer than _six_ more alicorns standing there.

Quietly planning to fire her spies – possibly out of a cannon – she sent an abort signal through the changeling empathic network and started planning how to leave the country.

Fast.

One alicorn, she'd be able to deal with if she had the element of surprise. The country's ruler, the thousands-of-years-old Celestia? Surprise and a great deal of magic from Shining Armor.

Six at once? Buck that.

* * *

8.4

* * *

"Sorry," Cadence said awkwardly. "I'm afraid this is how this loop looks like going."

Prince Shining Armor shrugged. "At least I get paper based magic. Shields are nice, but I sometimes want a little more variety."

The six ponies normally known as the Elements of Harmony stared at Cadence with fixed expressions for another moment. Then Twilight (also known as the Deva Path of Love, this Loop) shook her head wearily. "Whatever. I do notice everyone in Naruto's Loop seems to have been turned into a pony in some way… he's not around, in case you were wondering. I checked."

Akatsuki looked even stranger than normal when they were _ponies_ wearing matching cloaks. Rarity looked like she was barely restraining a redesign fit.

"Er… so who's Naruto been replaced by?" Animal Path Fluttershy asked.

* * *

A dozen Village Hidden in the Everfree ponies jumped after the local troublemaker.

"Ha!" he shouted, snapping his fingers and materializing a large trampoline. Most of them bounced off it, flying out of the village entirely, but one pony snapped out her wings and flew around it.

"Huh?" With a _thud_, Scootaloo body-checked the joker into the ground. "Awww…"

"Discord," she shook her head. "Right, you're cleaning up the monument. And without magic."

"Do I get chocolate milk afterwards?" Discord asked.

"Alright," she sighed.

* * *

Discord sat in the corner of the classroom, waiting for their teacher to show up. He'd enjoyed his meals with Scootaloo and the other two academy teachers, and of course he'd passed his test… but apparently you got points off for pranks.

So he'd _barely_ passed. (It was a good thing that point deductions couldn't result in a failing grade, or he'd have got negative eight hundred and twenty three percent.) And that got him on the team with the unicorn and the changeling making goo-goo eyes at one another while they waited.

Then the door opened, and a blue-black pony stepped through. "Sorry I'm late. I got stuck on the moon after the Hokage got annoyed. I'm Luna, and I'll be your teacher. Come on."

* * *

Twilight ended the scrying spell, and the eight alicorns took deep breaths.

"Discord. Discord is Naruto." Cadence threw up her hooves. "Well, we're doomed. He's going to have to teach us the power of chaos, or something."

"Who's the Hokage?" the Pony path, Dash, asked.

"Celestia, of course." Twilight rolled her eyes. "_That_ one was obvious. But I checked – aside from the CMC being academy teachers like I showed you, no Mizuki, and us, we've seen all the changes. Orochimaru is as per normal, just a pony."

"Ew." Everypony said.

"Oh, that reminds me." Cadence got out a notebook. "My current motivation is that an old friend of mine didn't get married. Because of that, I want to make sure everyone in the elemental nations gets hooked up – and to do that, I will build the Dating Simulator."

"…did I imagine those capital letters?" asked Twilight.

"Nope." Cadence grinned.

"Well, this'll be fun…" the Paths of Love chorused.

* * *

8.5 (L337 m4n)

* * *

Berry Punch walked into a bar, like she did most days, and asked one of her favourite questions. "Bartender… give me the hardest liquor you got!"

The bartender shrugged. "Sorry but we ran out of Liquor, Wine, and Ale… would you like a warm glass of milk instead?"

* * *

Berry came awake with a violent start, stifling a scream. _No_ alcohol?

After a moment, she realized where she was, and went downstairs to get herself a nightcap to steady her nerves.

* * *

Twilight Sparkle walked into a large library, found herself a book to read, and sat down. Opening it, she was startled to find herself looking at blank pages.

Blinking, she looked down the page, then rifled through the book. A feeling of dread building, she grabbed two more books from the case – only to see the same thing – before screaming "Where are the words!"

Twilight woke up sweating and ran downstairs to her library. It took her four novels before she was certain her books were still fine.

* * *

"Rather crude Luna. Messing with the dreams of our citizens," Celestia admonished, before turning her attention back to the nightmares.

"Sister, given how many times I have been told they pranked me, I feel I deserve one night of revenge. Now be quiet, I plan to mess with a certain apple for that bucking one loop." Luna looked into each dream, then gained a grin that would look more fitting on Nightmare Moon.

* * *

Applejack came out to the front door of her farm, to find a number of ponies wearing black suits busily stripping it down.

"Hey, what are you doin'?" Applejack protested, getting in the way of one.

"We're the Internal Revenue Service and you owe us back taxes for seven years… your assets are being liquidated," the Pony in black stated calmly.

Applejack gave the biggest scream yet, startling her siblings, and looked out every window in the house to check for tax ponies before finally going back to bed with the shakes.

"Yes, oh yes! Next one on the revenge list is… Pinkie! She'll be the next to fall for her constant parties that one loop. So much cake… so much," Luna brooded, thinking about the picture she'd been shown of how much weight she'd gained that Loop.

* * *

8.6 (continuation of 7.13)

* * *

"That's right," Celestia said. "Just one attack, nothing major."

The individual she was talking to twitched his nose.

"No, you don't need to actually kill anyone." Seeing his reaction, the alicorn frowned. "Though I suppose you can threaten it if you feel like it."

After a moment, Angel Bunny rubbed the fingers of his forepaw against his thumb.

"Five carts," Celestia offered.

Angel turned away in a huff.

"Six?"

The rabbit looked over his shoulder, and made a circling gesture with his hand.

"All right, seven then."

Nods.

"Right. I need to go contact the Golden Harvest family, they're the only ones with that many carrots." Celestia pointed a hoof. "You are a harsh negotiator for a lagomorph."

Angel shrugged.

* * *

Celestia counted in her head. _Right. One rabbit attack, then a couple of timber wolf attacks… that sea serpent… a manticore… and, finally…_

This would cause her student to awaken the Elements if anything would. Admittedly, she wouldn't have even tried this if it were not for how Twilight had gone exploring and found the things, but they still needed to be usable for Equestria to be safe. And with Luna out having a beach holiday, there had to be some other kind of threat.

Which led to why the alicorn of the Sun was poking an Ursa Major with a stick.

The enormous beast finally snorted, opened an eye… grabbed Celestia in a massive paw, and rolled over back to sleep with its new 'soft toy'.

* * *

Twilight scanned the Everfree forest, homing in on her mentor's magical signature. She'd already contacted the Awake Luna, and knew it wasn't her doing that the sun hadn't come up yet – but a missing Celestia could be a serious problem.

Possibly it was connected to why Angel Bunny had somehow demolished the town hall…

Finally finding the right place, she cautiously entered the cave.

* * *

"While I'm sure you're amused, Twilight," Celestia said with her precious little remaining dignity, "I do rather need help. Ursa Major are so resistant to magic I can't teleport out."

Twilight rolled around on the floor, still giggling. Every time she'd tried to come to her hooves, she'd caught sight of the complete opposite of 'a pony with a teddy bear' and gone right back to laughing herself silly.

* * *

8.7 (L33t M4n)

* * *

"Girls! I thought of something for this loop to prepare for the changelings. The idea came to me after that time I accidentally caused a Soviet victory in that Loop with Einstein." Pinkie bounced happily along before pulling a projector out of nowhere and setting the film up.

"Fellow ponies! There is an enemy hidden amongst us! CHANGELINGS! Trying to steal our home, the changelings lurk in the background!" the narrator showed a scene of shadowy eyes peering from the dark.

"But how do you recognize those dangerous fiends? With a simple question."

An earth pony with a shovel appeared on the screen.

"Do you like working Lucy?"

"Yes, sir!" Lucy saluted with shovel in hoof.

The camera panned right. Next to her was a pegasus in horrible changeling make-up

"And do _you_ like working…?" the narrator paused while a close up was used on the changeling.

"Huuh…" she spoke unconvincingly before the scene shifted to the Equestrian flag.

"If her answer is anything but a yes, she is a CHANGELING!"

* * *

8.8 (Chojomeka)

* * *

"Just get it over with already, Ikari," growled the light coated Diamond Dog.

"…Well I guess the universe just decided to show you as you are in this loop, Asuka…" a tan pegasus replied. "You know… as a bitch?"

If Shinji's grin were any bigger it would have split his face in two.

* * *

8.9 (Belgarion213)

* * *

"My dear Twilight, there is more to a young pony's life than studying, so I'm sending you to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in this year's location: Ponyville. And, I have an even more essential task for you to complete: make some friends!"

Spike was about to counsel the miserable Twilight Sparkle after the princess's words, but paused. He had been with the purple Unicorn since he was hatched at her entrance to the prestigious Academy she attended, but the almost unholy light that shone in those eyes… it worried him.

He shrugged it off. After all, what was the worst that could happen?

"Make friends," he could hear Twilight muse, "…Spike! That just might work!"

…Why did he ask these questions?

* * *

_Dear Princess Celestia, _

_I have arrived in Ponyville and am continuing my supervision for the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration. Ms Applejack of Sweet Apple Acres has assured me that the food is coming along swimmingly, while Rainbow Dash, leader of Weather Ponies in Ponyville, has been maintaining a clear sky. Ms Rarity has created some impeccable decorations, awaiting your arrival, while Ms Fluttershy has orchestrated a truly magical orchestra._

_I have made some few suggestions and eagerly await your arrival for the Summer Sun Celebration. _

_Your faithful student,_

_Twilight Sparkle. _

_PS: I am running into problems keeping the spark of life in the animated golems from escaping. Do you have any suggestions for how I can keep the mana flow variation within safe parameters without using self-perpetuating seal script? I dislike the thought of using that option because of the problems Starswirl encountered in his examination with the 'Tribbles' but I cannot seem to get the mana flowing safely without it. These won't be very good friends with that level of instability._

Princess Celestia lowered the letter for a moment and stared into the distance. "…I didn't mean it that way," she said weakly. She supposed she _should_ have been more direct to poor Twilight. A brilliant Unicorn but sometimes so distressingly literal minded.

* * *

"I don't know about you," Rainbow Dash said, edging away from 'Bright Wind', "But they give me the creeps." There was something about the friends of this newcomer, 'Twilight Sparkle', which just put her on edge. Maybe it was the way they didn't seem to blink?

* * *

"…are you sure this is what the Princess wanted you to do?" Spike asked his friend nervously, staring _far_ below him at the giant pit of boiling metal. He didn't know _why_ the Ponyville library had a shaft that lead to what he assumed was Equestria's mantle, or how Twilight had found it, but even a Dragon was a bit frightened of the level of heat down there.

"Of course Spike!" Twilight said, a dizzying number of glyphs floating around her in interlocking circles, half of them rotating clockwise, the other half counter-clockwise as her horn glowed almost scalding white and she wrote script directly onto raw metal refined from that furnace far below. "I can't believe that I didn't see it before! It's obvious this is what she means!"

"I don't know…." Spike said slowly.

Twilight kept smiling, while writing with a fine touch that only experience could bring on the metal far below. Of course she knew this wasn't what Celestia had meant, but well there were _needs_.

The dimensional pocket that she had learned (and dissected the spell array for) from one of the older Loopers was impressive, very impressive. It was obvious that it had been an incredible spell at its beginning, but centuries – perhaps millennia – had gone into increasing the efficiency it had, allowing her to sustain a small, self contained universe from her own power. One that would follow her between loops.

That meant she could carry things between them, and Twilight Sparkle was a Mage. After that Star Wars loop and the _millions_ of Pinkie Pies, the _hostile_ Pinkie Pies… she would never feel safe again without her own subordinates.

Most of the older Loopers used clones. They _were_ useful, but Twilight kept trying to micromanage the sensory input and motor control of _all_ of her bodies, not letting 'shadows' of her mind form. A habit most mages really interested in the workings of magic had, though it could be worked around according to Lina anyway.

Twilight Sparkle spun the metal in the air, as script so tiny and so dense that it looked like two giant swathes of purple magic formed over the glowing white piece… she fought the desire to cackle. She was not the cackling kind of Pony!

* * *

8.10 (Stainless Steel Fox)

(Note: this ficlet assumes a "Dumbledore" or "manipulative-in-the-name-of-the-greater-good" Celestia.)

* * *

**Turning the Tables part 2**

Celestia caught the arriving scroll effortlessly as it flashed into existence. Philomena was perched on a stand in front of her as she took mid-afternoon tea in her private quarters. She noted the seal on it and smiled at the phoenix.

"It seems my favourite student has found the Legend of the Two Sisters, and drawn the correct conclusions. Now all I need to do is get her to Ponyville."

She took a sip of tea and opened the scroll. Seconds later, the phoenix squawked in distress as she got doused in hot tea, courtesy of the Princess's absolutely spectacular spit-take.

"But… she…" Celestia stared at the scroll wide-eyed, as if continued observation would make the words on it change. "Going to a party with Spike? Just to make him happy?"

Philomena flared up, instantly drying herself and chattered at the Princess.

"Yes, it is a worthy thing to do, and I'm proud she showed consideration, but she couldn't have chosen a worse time! If I send her to Ponyville without knowledge of the legend, she won't know what she needs to do…"

The phoenix chattered again.

"Too clever for my own good am I?" Celestia looked distant. "I knew from the moment I saw and felt that rainbow shock-wave of magic that the spirits of the Elements of Harmony had arisen once again in the souls of ponies. I felt Twilight's magic resonate with it, so strongly, I knew she was the missing element, the one who could bring the others together, use them to their full potential for the first time since…"

She shook her head. "I felt the other elements being touched, connected by that rainbow wave, and I've since felt them congregating in Ponyville. While I no longer have power over them, I still remember the sense of their magic. I'm sure they're being drawn to one another, and if I can just put Twilight in close proximity, she should act as the focus, awaken them with the spark of friendship. But she'll need the husks of the crystals that once housed them as well, to store the awakened elements.

"That was why I laid down those clues so many centuries ago, so they could be discovered at our old palace at the right time, to bring together the elements in the right way. I had worried that the element of magic might not be studious, but Twilight seemed perfect in that regard. They were cryptic against the possibility that the bearer might on realising the power they would come to wield, decide to use it for selfish reasons."

The phoenix gave a flaming snort, and series of squawks.

"No, I don't think Twilight would misuse them either. She has consistently exceeded my expectations in every area, except that she could be more social. At any other time, going to that party with Spike would have been a good thing; it's only the timing that is inconvenient. Maybe I should have told her more directly, but everything seemed to be going so well without any further intervention. Now I may have no choice."

There was an interrogative cluck from Philomena.

"I will summon her here, and tell her what she needs to know about my sister's banishment. Then I will tell her I need her to find the Elements, that they were hidden from me, but that I believe there may be records in Ponyville library. Then I will suggest she go in undercover as the overseer for the Summer Sun Celebration. That should put things back on the rails."

Philomena fluffed up and gave her another chattering telling off.

The alicorn shook her head. "Tell her everything? I don't want to burden her with anything more than I have to. She can start out believing she merely has to find them, that she will ultimately have to wield them is something best left until she's had a chance to adapt. Maybe she could handle it all, but why take a chance? It's the same reason she can't know I intend to be captured. With the power of the conjunction, Nightmare Moon can overpower me, but keeping me from escaping the sun will weaken her greatly. So she won't be able to simply overpower Twilight and the other spirits before they can reactivate the husks. She'll have to use guile, and thankfully that isn't her strong point."

Celestia sighed. "I could have gotten everything prepared months in advance, but I couldn't risk the possibility that Nightmare Moon might be able to sense the spirits or the husks of the elements. Luna was once connected to them too, remember? The wild magic of the Everfree hides them, and Nightmare Moon will come after me, even if she senses the spirits in Ponyville, because – as far as she knows – I'm the bearer, and the only one who could use them against her."

The phoenix made a rasping sound.

"You still think I should have told Twilight some of this, don't you? In hindsight, maybe I could have, but my original plan has been working up until now, and I'd prefer not to change Wonderbolts in mid race." Princess Celestia's horn glowed, and a quill and sheet of parchment appeared in front of her. "The less of all this I have to put in a letter, the better."

She smiled at her own unintentional poetry, and set to work, ignoring that Philomena had put a wing across her eyes and beak, clearly unhappy with the decided course of action.

* * *

Twilight had millennia of real experience of social situations from her many loops, including the loops where she'd substituted for Celestia. Adding background memories from those same loops expanded that even further. So she was no longer the socially awkward filly she'd started out as in the base time-line. Indeed, she could duplicate her mentor's air of sangfroid quite easily. Added to her own talent and understanding of the magic of friendship, she could have had the entire party eating out of her hoof in five minutes.

Of course, being the sort of pony who could gain her alicorn-hood through her understanding of friendship, the idea of ponies worshipping her like that was repugnant. In all her loops, that was the one thing she'd never attempted. However, that didn't mean she wouldn't use her abilities to help Spike and accomplish her overall plan. Though in part, that meant hiding her abilities, and reacting more like base time-line Twilight would have.

So when her appearance at the entrance to the west castle courtyard with Spike on her back caused the conversations to quieten down, and most of the eyes of the mares and stallions assembled to turn on her, she made herself flinch with a nervousness she didn't actually feel, then visibly stiffened her shoulders and her resolve and headed for Moondancer, lowering Spike gently to her side.

Trotting over to the white unicorn, she said, "Uh… hi, Twinkleshine told me about your party, and Spike wanted to come, and I felt I should come with him. I know you didn't exactly invite me directly, but Twinkleshine implied it'd be okay…"

Clearly, the white unicorn opposite her was still stunned by the fact that Twilight Sparkle, the Princess's own student, and the pony who never came to parties, was at hers. It would be a considerable social coup for her.

Twilight reacted the way she once would have, starting to speed up her words, and glance around nervously. "…if it's a problem, I'm sorry I intruded on your party, I didn't mean to cause problems, I really have to be getting back now I've seen Spike safely here, I feel guilty enough that I told the princess I was taking time off to do this and I should go now before I make myself look any more foalish…"

Twilight started to turn away only to hear, "Wait! I'm very happy to have you here! I was just surprised. You don't normally come to any-pony's parties!"

She let herself visibly relax, smiling at the other pony. "That's why I thought maybe I should start. I'm good with magic, other ponies… not so much. I was reading some ancient legends about Starswirl the Bearded… I'm sorry, I'm babbling, and Spike wanted to come see you especially."

That got the dragon exclaiming "Twilight!" in an embarrassed tone of voice, which made the other ponies giggle. Twilight had used magic and memory retention techniques to sharpen her already excellent memory to near perfect recall, but she'd actually forgotten that before Spike had gone gaga over Rarity, he'd been crushing on the pony in front of her.

Still, the little dragon came forward and handed over his gift. Shyly, he said, "I got this for you, I hope you like it."

Twilight decided to make it up to her companion by tweaking it with a very low power want-it, need-it spell, synchronised to Moondancer. It would decay to untraceable levels in a few moments, and leave no permanent effect other than a vague fondness for the object. Moondancer reacted by hugging the teddy bear to her, and squealing "I love it!"

Spike got picked up in her telekinesis too, and got a big kiss on the cheek. He floated away with hearts in his eyes. Towards the buffet table, of course, even romance didn't interfere with his appetite. Meanwhile Twilight was introduced around, Moondancer and Twinkleshine somehow coming to a time-sharing arrangement of some kind, possibly by telepathy.

Twilight found she was enjoying herself immensely. For a looper, especially one as experienced as she was, novelty was more precious than gold… or, in her case, books. And yet here were dozens of ponies who before now she'd known only as part of the background, each with their own histories, ideas and quirks.

Of course, they wanted to ask her things, about the princess, about problems they were having with some of the tougher parts of their studies, and a surprising number of them about her brother. It seemed that the Captain of the Guard had a lot of admirers, not all of them mares. It was something of a shock to find at least a couple of stallions, and one mare who were more interested in her as well. Those she deflected as gently and nicely as possible.

She did her best to answer ponies' questions where she could, but mostly she asked her own questions, and listened. Centuries of experience had shown her that you could be accounted a great conversationalist simply by getting other ponies (and most other sentient beings) to talk about themselves, and listening. Of course, all this new information was also like fine wine or new book, to be drunk in and filed carefully in her highly organised memory.

In the cases of the people asking her for help, her questions explored what they did understand, and helped them to see what they didn't. Something she'd learned from Princess Celestia was that guiding ponies to understanding something on their own made it stick far better than simply telling them. She'd wondered if that was part of the reason Princess Celestia had handled the quest for the Elements of Harmony the way she had, but the cases weren't parallel. There was more at stake than just Twilight's development as a pony, and while she was a bit awed that the Princess might have put that much value on it, she disagreed.

She did play one small prank. While she'd finally forgiven her brother for all the past times that he hadn't let her know about the wedding until the very last minute (after all, from his point of view, it was just the once) that didn't mean she couldn't prank him. Ponies asking about her brother were informed of his weakness for double chocolate cookies, though in fairness, she did tell the stallions that she was sure her brother didn't walk that side of the paddock.

It was working with no more than her base time-line self would have known, but the results should be that over the next couple of months, Shining Armour should end up getting a lot of love letters and boxes of cookies, not to mention approaches of varying directness. Before the end of it, he'd probably be sick of them.

Of course, there was always some-pony ready to upset the apple cart.

"Look at her, that stuck up little bookworm finally deigned to come mingle with the rest of us! Swanning around, showing off how smart she is!"

It was a unicorn who went by the name Sharp Retort. While she had considerable talent as an alchemist, her magic scores, both theory and practical, were generally near the bottom of the table. Twilight had never really met her, but she'd heard the other defining characteristic of this pony was her sharp tongue, and her desire to make a big splash socially.

In other words, she was a marginally more adult unicorn version of that evil minded little filly, Diamond Tiara, though with at least some actual redeeming features. After centuries of observation, Twilight had come to the conclusion that the only thing DT was good for was as a bad example.

Twilight apologised to the mare she was helping to understand Marelin's theory of Morphic Fungibility, and turned to face the other unicorn, who was also wearing a fancier dress than most of the ponies there. "That's not how I'd have put it, but I assume you have a reason for saying so?"

"You shouldn't be here!" Sharp Retort sneered, "Go back to your books, it's where you belong!"

Base time-line Twilight would have bailed at this point, so she flinched, ears flicking back. She took a step back, then she visibly steadied herself. She glanced around and saw that most of the ponies, other than a couple who were obviously Sharp Retort's pals, were looking on with sympathy or encouragement for her, or annoyance at Sharp Retort.

Taking a deep breath, she replied, "Still not hearing a reason for your aggressiveness, but based on your test scores, attire and general attitude, it could be one of three possibilities. Either you are jealous of my academic achievements, my proximity to the Princess, or that you hoped to be the centre of attention here and my arrival spoiled that. Or it could be varying degrees of all three."

Sharp Retort's body language told her she'd zapped the alchemist's weather-pony right between the wings. "Why you… why should I be jealous of a pathetic little bookworm like you? You don't have any real friends, or any real life! You're just a bunch of books in the shape of a unicorn!"

That got a number of looks of shock and disgust from her new friends, and she saw Spike, who'd been relaxing on a recliner by the buffet table, being fed tid-bits by a number of mares, jump up and start over, little arms swinging belligerently.

The comment would have hurt base-line Twilight deeply. She gave another wince, then took a deep breath, speaking calmly. "You know, you're absolutely right. It is rather sad that until today, the only thing I knew about most of the ponies around us were their test scores. Thank you for reminding me exactly why coming to this party was such a good idea. On that basis, you have nothing to be jealous of. So why are you?"

"I'm not jealous! I can't believe you're all falling for her innocent act!" Sharp Retort looked around, but seeing no support from any-pony except her book ends, she gave a growl of annoyance and flounced out.

Twilight went over to the host of the party, head slightly bowed. "I'm sorry, Moondancer, I didn't mean to cause a scene."

"You weren't the one causing it." The other unicorn reassured her. "I'm sorry you had to deal with all that. That was just plain mean."

"However, she had a point." Twilight sighed. "I should be getting back to my studies. I still feel really guilty that I went to this party without the Princess okaying it."

Spike had come up and hugged her leg. "C'mon Twi, we're on break! I'm sure she won't mind you taking one night off."

"Yes, surely you're learning stuff here too?" Moondancer asked.

Twilight decided they deserved a proper answer. While any-pony could generate a heart-song, it only happened when they were in the grip of some deep emotion. It had taken many loops to learn Pinkie Pie's music-on-demand ability, but it was worth it for universes with a musical component, such as Equestria. "Oh yes, so much…"

"My researches they were enough,

And keeping my work up to snuff,

Ponies as friends I did not miss,

But I wasn't prepared for this…

"Who'd have thought that chatting was such fun,

Learning about ponies one by one,

Sharing memories and helping them out,

It's a wonderful new feeling without doubt!

"Companionship that I did dismiss,

Now I know that it's simply bliss.

Making some new friends,

Helping ponies,

Seeing what life sends,

Not books only,

I want to do more of this!"

She had some idea of the workings of narrative causality from her long study of many universes, and there was no way the fates would let something like that pass without reacting. Cue Spike burping up a scroll with the Princess's own seal. Depending on what was on it, the prank might end right here. Had Celestia learned that not providing enough information or guidance risked things going badly wrong, or was she still convinced that only she had the need to see the full picture?

'Twilight, my faithful student,

I need to see you on a matter of great urgency. Come immediately to my chambers.

Princess Celestia.'

Apparently not. Twilight let the scroll drop to the floor, face an expression of shock. "It's from the Princess, she wants to see me right away!"

Spike shrugged. "Okay, so what's the problem? You love spending time with her."

"Oh Spike, don't you see? I said I'd come here rather than continue working! She must think I'm not taking my studies seriously!"

She was a bit embarrassed about acting like this, or rather the fact that she'd originally acted like this for real over a simple late letter. However, it was how she would have reacted back then, or rather how she believed she would have reacted. So she paced around, acting fuming and flustered, ears twiching.

"What if she gives me a test on what I was supposed to be learning? What if I fail? You know what teachers do to students who fail? They send them back a grade!"

"But Twilight, this was your project in the first place, and you're not even in a grade!"

"No, you're right! She may just send me back to magic kindergarten!" Creating an illusion of herself sitting in a tiny desk seat, being laughed at by colts was easy enough, while she did her best impression of a thousand yard stare. "No, she'll probably dismiss me as her student altogether!"

She was rather proud of managing to put three exclamation marks into a spoken sentence. Now it was time to put the cherry on top of this particular piece of humble pie. Before Spike could act as the voice of sanity, she teleported away to her tower study. She had a lot of things to do to enact the next part of her plan, and very little time to do them in.

Moondancer looked confused. "What… just happened?"

"Twilight's off on one of her things again." Spike sighed. "Maybe it's because she's so smart. She can find things to worry about that no-pony else would even think about. The Princess probably just wanted to ask her how she enjoyed the party. I'll go find her and calm her down. She's probably in her study… frantically studying whatever it was she thinks she was to be tested on."

After he'd left, the party was a bit subdued, but soon got back into full swing. Said swing came to a dead stop when Princess Celestia herself flashed into existence at the entrance to the courtyard. Every-pony turned towards her and bowed deeply.

"Thank you, my little ponies." The princess said with her usual grace. "I did not wish to interrupt your party, but I'm looking for Twilight Sparkle. I summoned her some time ago, and she had said she was at this party. Does any-pony know where she is now?"

Moondancer answered, a bit nervously. "When she saw your letter, she…"

"Freaked out!" Some-pony else said, after an awkward silence.

"… freaked out. She was going on about you dismissing her as a student because she came here rather than studying." The white unicorn took a few seconds to work up his nerve, then asked, "You, you wouldn't really do that, would you?"

"Of course not!" Celestia was genuinely shocked. "I'm pleased to see her making new friends, I just needed her for an important job."

"Spike did say she did this kind of thing occasionally. He said he was going back to her study to calm her down."

Celestia's mind was set at ease now that she knew where to find her errant student. However, she was curious, in part because how Twilight did here would be a good indicator of how she might do in Ponyville. "Twilight is not the most social of ponies. Was she enjoying herself up until my message?"

"If you call singing about it enjoying yourself, then yes I think she did." Moondancer smirked. One way or another this party would be the most talked about of the year.

"Twilight? Singing?" In her millennia of experience, she'd had many surprises, but she'd never have imagined Twilight engaging in a heart-song, unless it was about a new book. "I see I may have to apologise to her, I had no idea she was that engaged in this party. Thank you all for making her welcome."

"Oh, it wasn't all one way, your highness." Twinkleshine responded. "I mean, she was shy to start with, but as soon as she got talking… after five minutes you felt like you'd known her for ages."

There was a general agreement from the ponies around her. One of the stallions added, "She really helped me too. You hear that she's this magical prodigy, but it's another thing to actually see it."

"How so… Flash Card, isn't it?"

"Yes, your highness." He looked a bit nervous when the princess turned her attention to him, but carried on. "I've been having trouble understanding amniomorphic spells, I can do them, but I have trouble with the theory side. Or rather, I did until I talked to Twilight. Professor Speller's taken me through it, but I could never get what he was going on about. However, Twilight managed to figure out where I was going wrong, and show me. She did it all in about ten minutes, and she didn't make me feel like an idiot for not understanding it already."

Celestia was impressed, not just at the level of skill his tale suggested, but that these ponies were all willing to come to Twilight's support. As she knew herself, simply because you knew a subject didn't mean you could teach it effectively. Once again, she wouldn't have pegged Twilight as being one of the ones who could. She made a graceful departure, and headed for Twilight's private tower, her confidence restored. It seemed, if anything, that her student was even more suited for her task than she'd imagined.

As she flew up to the entrance to Twilight's study, she composed herself to help Spike perform any remaining calming down that needed doing. When she reached the door, it was ajar, which seemed odd, so she went straight in. Spike was sitting in the middle of the room, staring blankly at the opened letter that was clutched in his paw..

Another sealed letter sat on Twilight's work table, with the seal that showed it was for Celestia's eyes only. She picked it up and opened it, her earlier confidence replaced by worry. The writing was Twilight's, but it was not her usual immaculate cursive script. The shakiness was slight, but it was clear her telekinesis had been disturbed by some great emotion.

'Dear Princess Celestia,

I most humbly apologise for neglecting my studies in favour of socialising. I honestly believed a few hours delay in doing that research would make no difference. I will endeavour to avoid friendships in future as they are clearly too distracting. I so enjoyed myself that for some time I completely forgot about my work, something that is clearly unacceptable.

However, that does not excuse my error. I have failed you, and as ruler of Equestria, you can not let that go unpunished. To save you the embarrassment of having to dismiss me, and myself the shame, I hereby submit my withdrawal from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. I will leave quietly, and find some other position. I hope you can eventually forgive me for not living up to your standards.  
I remain your most devoted and faithful subject,

Your ex-student,  
Twilight Sparkle.'

Celestia had experienced much in her vast lifespan, but she'd rarely felt the shock she did right then. Twilight had left? Her telekinesis snatched Spike's letter from his paws, desperate to find any further scrap of information as to where she might be.

'Dear Spike,

I have to leave for a while. I'm sorry to leave so abruptly, without saying good bye or explaining in person, but I have no choice. I've disgraced myself, disappointed the Princess, so I can no longer stay here. I can't return to my parents house either, not after this. Leaving you there was one of the hardest parts of my decision to do so. I would have taken you with me, but I shall have to find a new place to live, some other way to support myself, and in the meantime, things are likely to be tough.

I can hear you as if you're standing there in front of me, saying it doesn't matter. Best of dragons, it does to me and I couldn't ask you to share the hardships I've brought on myself. Princess Celestia will care for you, I'm sure. As soon as I have somewhere to live, some way to provide for us both, I will let you know. If you still want to be assistant and best friend to a plain old unicorn, rather than Celestia's favourite student, I certainly want you to be with me.

Your friend,  
Twilight Sparkle.'

Having his letter taken off him had broken Spike out of his trance. He noticed Celestia for the first time, and his expression crumpled. "She was already gone when I got here!"

He ran over to her, and she patted his back as he hugged her leg tightly. "Do not worry, this is all a silly misunderstanding, one that will be fixed as soon as I talk to her. I only needed her to undertake an important mission."

"But she's gone!" Spike cried out.

"Not for long. Canterlot isn't Manehattan you know. I shall have Shining Armour and the entire Royal Guard comb the city for her. I'm sure they will find her within the hour, and then we can put this whole unfortunate incident behind us."

She placed him on her back, and carried him out of the tower, mind whirring. She considered the dragon on her back, and what she'd found out earlier. "Tell me Spike, does Twilight truly see me as so strict? I would never punish her so harshly, even if I felt her taking time off from her studies to make new friends to be a bad thing, which I don't."

"Maybe you should have told her that!" Spike snapped, then looked away, ashamed. "I'm sorry, Princess."

"Never be ashamed of speaking your mind." Her magic gently brought his chin up. "Your loyalty to her does her credit, and you too. Now, please tell me your mind."

Spike was clearly debating with himself on exactly what to say, loyalty warring with honesty. "No, it's sort of… You know she's kind of nuts about getting everything just right. She worships you, too. When she's pushing herself with another all-nighter, I think she uses the idea that it's what you expect of her to push herself that bit more. She invents these over the top punishments because to her, pleasing you is the most important thing in the world. So failing is the worst crime, and deserves the worst punishment."

"So she projects her own desire for perfection onto me?" Celestia was feeling rather guilty as she flew towards the Royal Guard barracks. She'd left well enough alone because a studious Twilight was exactly what she needed the sixth element to be. It sounded like Twilight had been heading down the wrong path that Starswirl the Bearded had once trod. Maybe if she'd encouraged her to have more of a social life outside her studies, she'd have been less likely to see it as a failing.

In an immortal, self honesty was even more important than in most ponies. The accumulated subconscious garbage of facts you kept yourself from acknowledging as the centuries piled up could send you into madness as surely as Discord. So when she realised something she had hidden from herself, she faced it squarely.

It was clear now that she'd made not one but two grave errors. Firstly, she had focussed on developing Twilight's magical abilities and studious nature in preparation for her destiny as the Bearer of the Element of Magic, and in the process unconsciously dismissed her development in other areas as unimportant. As long as Twilight was able to make friends with the other bearers and was loyal to Celestia, that was enough.

It was not something she'd have ever decided consciously, indeed the idea of using a pony like that horrified her. Twilight was more to her than some magical super-weapon, even without her destiny, Celestia would still have taken her on as a personal student, as someone with that sort of raw magical potential and desire to learn came along once in a millennium (and she was one of very few ponies who could confirm that from personal experience). She was dear to Celestia, and the alicorn princess only wanted the best things for her.

But the fact that she hadn't consciously considered what that meant, that she'd assumed that everything was working out well had led to this mess. Now that that unconscious assumption had been brought out into the light, she could easily pick it apart. Without prior experience of making friends, how would Twilight have even the tools needed to make those vital friendships, or understand their importance in the first place? While Twilight seemed to have avoided that, from her performance at the party, the very fact that her existing social circle was so sparse and her development in other areas so limited had left her without other sources of strength, without the more balanced appreciation of things when her very loyalty and over-commitment had made her turn a minor incident into a huge betrayal.

It was symptomatic of a larger problem, the way she'd approached both the task of Twilight's personal development and the restoration of the Elements. She'd ruled for millennia, and in that time, she'd formulated some basic guidelines for successful rulership, the most important of which was not to do anything unless it was absolutely needed. As her Appleoosian subjects would say, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.'

She could so easily have become a tyrant, not in the manner of King Sombra, but simply by helping out her subjects too much, making them any more dependant on her and not able to solve their own problems, or grow from that experience. Yes, she could have made Equestria a place where no-pony ever wanted for anything or had to do anything other than exist and fill their time with parties and play, but she'd rather go Nightmare herself than live in such a 'utopia'.

As a result, she'd become master of the subtle nudge, the indirect approach, never acting directly where she could get other ponies to do it, or even find a solution for themselves. Most of her direct actions apart from raising the sun were stopping some-pony from doing something self-aggrandising, or that while appearing good in the short term would have long term negative consequences. But while her breadth of knowledge and long term viewpoint gave her a degree of wisdom, she was neither omnipotent nor omnicient. Philomena's arguments came back to her, and Spike's outburst. After so long she'd become set in her ways, and been unable to realise that this situation required a different approach. After so many centuries as the subtle manipulator, when a situation came up that did require a more horn-on approach, she hadn't recognised the fact, content to let things develop as they'd seemed to be working out.

She resolved to make it up to Twilight when she next saw her. She'd done what was easy rather than what was needed and it had cost her, and possibly many others including Twilight and her sister. She could have made the argument that she'd trusted Twilight to figure out what to do on her own, but the case could also be made that she'd showed a lack of trust in not believing Twilight could handle the information, a lack of faith that the unicorn could accept the responsibility without being tricked into it. When she next saw Twilight, there would be full disclosure, and a serious apology. She was Princess Celestia, and she would make things right.

"Don't worry Spike. I _will_ fix this." She landed in the courtyard of the barracks, taking the startled salute of the guards training there. "I need to see Captain Shining Amour, at once!"

* * *

AN:

Yeah, this is ridiculously soon. Apparently it was a productive weekend for posters on the SpaceBattles thread...

If the characterization of Celestia in the Turning the Tables Loop is a bit off to you, then just assume it's a slight variant of the normal loop. Those do happen.

I mention it because Stainless Steel fox specifically mentioned it was getting a bit serious for the tone of the rest of the Loops, and wondered if it would fit.

We've had a bit of a discussion about the characterization, because it does feel a BIT off to me but not enough that I can actually pinpoint anything about it. (Well, except that Celestia would probably have managed things successfully if she'd been dealing with the Twilight she thought she knew rather than a Looper explicitly trying to screw with her plans...)

The other thing to say: Sakura is the "go to" example of a Looper whose mind couldn't take it. She basically went nuts for a long, long time - even by Loop standards.


	9. Chapter 9

9.1

* * *

"You know…" Sweetie mused. "There's something we should really do in these loops."

"What?" Applebloom asked. "Like, look for our cutie marks? Again?"

"No," Sweetie said, "not that. I mean, we should learn how to actually _do_ things. Not just try to find the one thing we're magically good at."

Scootaloo shrugged. "I dunno. What do you mean?"

"Well…" Sweetie blushed. "I'd kind of like to know how to cook. Not, special talent, know how to cook, but more… actually-the-right-shape-food cook."

The other two nodded, understanding.

"Anyway," Sweetie continued, "I was going to ask Rarity about that. She's fairly good. We'll see how it goes. What about you, 'bloom?"

The earth pony thought for a bit. "Perhaps ah'll pay more attention when Big Mac tries to get me to help on th' farm."

Scootaloo spoke up. "And I'm going to try to learn some math. Last time Dash and I both looped, she said that math was important in understanding… well, cool stuff, like fighter planes."

* * *

"Oh, dear," Rarity said, "Well, it's nice that you want to learn, but I'm afraid I'm really not good at… well… simple foods." She shrugged. "Perhaps you could ask Big Mac? I've heard that he's the one who does a lot of the cooking whenever there's an Apple family reunion…"

"Okay," Sweetie replied.

* * *

Big Mac slumped into bed.

Oh, it wasn't the work that had him tired out. No, it was that his littler sister and her two friends were constantly pestering him for help.

If it wasn't how to help run the farm, it was maths. If it wasn't either of those, it was how to cook.

Still, there were compensations.

* * *

Applejack nodded. "Thanks, Twi. Ah felt like Mac deserved somethin' for handlin' all three of the Crusaders so well this Loop."

Twilight grinned. "It wasn't much, really. All I did was point out to Cheerilee that he was probably halving her workload, and she sent him a thank you card, and…"

"This happen a lot?" Applejack asked. "Mac and Cheerilee, ah mean."

"Somewhat." Twilight shrugged. "It can go either way."

* * *

9.2 (L33t m4n)

* * *

"Girls, I know this is a new loop, but I have a plan. When the wedding occurs I want to do something drastic." Twilight had gone through this a thousand times, but a new twist is what made the monotony nonexistent.

"Twi, I don't like that grin on your face. That's the grin that made the town go through a crazy compulsion for a doll," Applejack worried – not entirely without justification.

"Relax. I just need the magic pool, some training grounds, and a place to keep the clones. As a great sorceror once said: magic must defeat magic!"

Twilight may have had a crazy streak, but her craziness was warranted at times.

"So you're hoping to use clones…to defeat clones!" Pinkie realized that this was something that was worth the crazy streak. She had a plan to differentiate the clones from herself this time if she was to take a dip in that clone pool again.

"Yep! Wanted to save it for a Star Wars loop, but a little sneak peek won't hurt." The grin was going cheshire by this point, and making some of the loopers uneasy about how this would go.

"And personality dear? You have a plan for that?" Rarity asked.

"Planned for that as well… look, girls, I have it all planned out. Just need a little help with getting it accomplished." Twilight replaced her grin with a reassuring smile which broke the remaining resistance towards the plan.

* * *

"Alright listen up! You want to be the best! You want to fly circles around the others and make them wail! You want to be the coolest!" Rainbow yelled out, flying above the others in drill sergeant mode.

"YEAH!" a number of clones responded with equal fervor.

"Then you are going to start off with being cool!" Rainbow brought a board down with her list of attributes to succeed.

* * *

"Alright dears, today we're learning how to cross-stitch, and make an outfit with a fitting theme." Rarity brought the needle up with magic before bringing up several spools of thread and fabric from her table. "Now watch, and do as I do."

_Teaching care and attention to detail is always good… as well as getting my work backlog cleared, of course… _Rarity thought to herself.

* * *

"Okay…now if it isn't a problem, I hope to show you … um excuse me," Fluttershy was teaching about looking after the critters at her place but the clones were too simple – most were too busy either chasing the animals or playing with them to focus on the shy, little pegasus' words.

"I SAID LISTEN!" Fluttershy entered Flying Hatred mode, before calming down and turning her dark form off. "Alright now return to your seats and take care of each animal. Also no fooling around or being rough, understand!" Fluttershy ended her sentence with a 'Stare' which drove any disobedience out of the clones before resuming her lesson.

* * *

Pinkie didn't focus much on teaching, instead concentrating on keeping the group together and teaching them how to make a fantastic party and how the party cannon worked.

"And that's how you make an amazing gazpacho. Any questions?"

One clone raised her hand before jumping back when Pinkie appeared in front of her. "Yes Twi-clone 265?"

"Uh, how does any of what you said relate to partying or teaching us?" the clone asked cautiously.

"Oh! How silly, I'm supposed to be teaching you skills. Right we'll start with making the perfect surprise . . ."

* * *

"Alright ya'll now bring that harvest in and we'll be ready for the coming winter." Applejack figured she'd teach them the appreciation of hard work, and benefit from the process. Rarity had done it, why not her?

* * *

"Good job, girls! When the wedding happens Chrysalis won't know what hit her. This might be something to do more often." Twilight cheered, looking the clones over alongside her friends.

* * *

Chrysalis crouched behind an overturned table, using a fruit bowl as a helmet. "This is not going well."

Another Changeling went flying through the air and bounced off her makeshift barricade.

* * *

9.3 (L33t m4n)

* * *

The telephone rang.

"Hello, may I speak with the owner of the "Stone Pony" bar?" Ruby Pinch spoke, her tone anxious.

"Yes, what can I do for you, kid?" said owner groggily answered while checking his clock.

"My mom is asking if you could please, open the bar a bit earlier today." Ruby Pinch asked hopefully into the phone

"Let me guess, your mommy must be a Berry Punch, right?" the owner frowned.

"Well, yes, she's Berry Punch and..." Ruby got out before the owner interrupted her.

"Figures...look kiddo, the bar strictly opens at 8:00 pm and it's barely 2:00 pm right now so..." he gruffly replied while barely stopping himself from hanging up right there

"But mister..." Ruby pleaded

"No buts young filly, tell your mommy that if she wants to get in the bar..." he was used to Berry trying stunts like this… but never before had she roped her daughter into it.

"But mister, you don't understand..." Ruby pressed.

"I don't understand what?" The stallion was seriously considering just putting the phone down.

"My mom doesn't want to get in; she wants to get out..."

* * *

Twilight blinked. "Wait, Berry is Awake this Loop?"

Applejack shrugged. "Ah only found out when she volunteered t' help with th' Super Squeezy thing next week. Guess she just ain't one for movin' and shakin'. Actually, she's mostly been breakin' into bars."

* * *

9.4 (Madfish)

* * *

Hundreds of loops had passed and, finding herself nostalgic and the only one Awake, Twilight had set about trying to relive that first time as closely as possible.

Checking on her mental script Twilight finished her speech, "It creates the sixth element– The Element of Magic!"

She felt her magic and that of the others fill her and expand… but was surprised when their energies pulled together without levitating them. "That's odd," she thought as suddenly instead of forming the Rainbow of Light it instead glared a brilliant white.

Familiar with magical overloads she was about to dive for cover when a humanoid dived forth from it into the air with a cry of "By your powers combined– I am Captain Planet!"

* * *

Hundreds of loops had passed and, finding herself nostalgic and the only one Awake, Twilight had set about trying to relive that first time as closely as possible. Yes, last time it hadn't worked, but this time there was no sign of a fused loop to interfere.

Once more checking off her mental script Twilight finished her speech but focused more on the world around checking for any anomalies that would throw things off, "It creates the sith element– The Element of Magic!"

She felt her magic and that of the others fill her and expand… but was surprised when their energies pulled together without levitating them. "Not again," she thought as suddenly instead of forming the Rainbow of Light it instead pulsed a dull marble grey light.

Familiar with magical overloads but rather less worried this time she waited and a humanoid stepped with a definite finality from it into the air.

"Buck me," Twilight said in surprise as she took in the black clad figure before her, "this won't end well."

As the figure drew its iconic weapon, it spoke with a voice filled with loss, pain and bitterness. "Bearer of Friendship. I find your lack of faith disturbing."

* * *

Again the only one Awake, Twilight had yet again set about trying to relive that first time as closely as possible. Hopefully, this time it would be perfect!

Checking on her mental script Twilight launched into her speech.

This time she didn't even get as far as before. Upon declaring "These are my friends!" Instead of the spherical form of the Element of Magic appearing a large bronze oil lamp beaned her on the head.

Face hoofing she gave it a look as it lay on its side on the floor. "You know what? I can work with this," she snarked, giving it a rub. Not even looking as clouds appeared she spoke quickly so as to finish with the dangerous object as soon as possible. "Genie! First wish! That all those who threaten to take over or harm Equestria and/or its inhabitants would be healed by the Elements of Harmony of such desires! Second Wish! I wish that from when I next wake up I'd understand how Pinkie does what she does! Third Wish! I wish you were free!"

Taking a deep breath she turned around… expecting to see the Blue genie she'd been dying to introduce Pinkie Pie to, and instead seeing a rather more intimidating red one.

* * *

Many many many loops later, Twilight was the only one Awake… "Sod it." She went Alicorn, cast age regression on Nightmare Moon and summoned Celestia. "Your problem. I'm not taking any more chances."

* * *

9. 5 (Stainless Steel Fox)

* * *

Rainbow Dash looked down at the two fillies standing by the two seater Mareitech space fighter. "Cadets Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, you made top scores in the simulator, but I wouldn't be sending you out if our losses to the Zentradi weren't so high. Command thinks I'm nuts for giving two Cadet fillies who don't have a cutie-mark yet a Mareitech, especially with your handicap Scoots. Prove them wrong! You've got the makings of greatness, both of you, if you can keep it together. I'll try and look out for you out there, but Rainbow Squadron is going to take up most of my time."

"Yes mam, Captain Dash!" Scootaloo beamed. Dash didn't seem to be Awake, unlike the three fillies, and they hadn't even worked out where the Anchor was. From what Princess Twilight had said in their first loop, there had to be one, though this was an odd loop. They were on board a ten mile long spaceship, the Marecross, which had crashed into Equestria a millenium ago, filled with advanced technology. Only Princess Luna's efforts had prevented it from crashing with a force that would have wiped out Equestria, and since then, it had almost been forgotten that the Guardian of the Night Skies had once not been as revered as Celestia.

The vessel had turned out to be a warship, and one that had been in multiple battles before it was abandoned and Princesses Celestia and Luna had decreed that it must be studied. While they could guard the world, there might be other live ships out there, and whatever had attacked this one. Over the centuries pony scientists and mages had figured out the prnciples behind it's construction and in the process had advanced Equestria's own technology level. They'd rebuilt the ship and in the fillies own lifetimes, figured out how to repair the automated factories and variable configuration space fighters that made up it's primary armament with a mix of technology and magic.

Just in time as well. The Zentradi had attacked, and with a fleet so huge even the Princesses had been hard pressed to shield Equestria from it. The ship, renamed the Marecross had performed an emergency Hyperwink to get out behind the enemy fleet, and through a malfunction in the generator system taken the whole of Ponyville with it. They'd rebuilt the town in one of the cargo holds, and now they fought against the Zentradi, trying to find a way to defeat the fleet and save Equestria.

Sweetie Belle came up to them as the two put on their interface helmets and they indulged in a three way hug. "Be careful out there!"

"Don't worry!" Scootaloo gave a cocky grin. "It's just a scouting patrol. We'll be back in time to see you win the Miss Marecross competition."

"Yep!" Apple Bloom tapped the side of the fighter, currently kneeling down in pegasus mode. "I've got this baby tuned sweet as Granny Smith's Zap Apple pie. Who'd have thought I'd be good at fixing protoculture tech?"

They scrambled up into their positions, resting on the belly saddles and locking their hooves into the fore and aft control boots. The canpies came down, and Scootaloo trotted the fighter onto a vehicle lift.

"Mareitech 86, Red Squadron Beta 4, Marecross Control, ready for launch!"

"You are cleared for launch Beta four. Moving you to launch position. Beta One will meet you at Waypoint One to begin your patrol. Sending guidance co-ordinates."

The fighter rose up through multiple sets of air-tight locks to the landing deck, open to space but normally pressurised by the bubble of air retained inside the Marecross's navigational deflector shield. As Apple bloom programmed the navigation waypoints with the bootstick controls, Scootaloo walked the vehicle onto a launch catapult, and folded it down into fighter mode. A prssure suited deck unicorn signalled all clear with an illuminated baton, and they were pressed back in their saddles as the fighter was shot into space.

* * *

9.6 (Stainless Steel Fox)

* * *

**Scootaloo the Pegasus**

"Rainbow Dash was right!" Scootaloo called out as she dived down from her wing assisted jump and smashed her fore-hooves through the moto-bug. "This is awesome!"

Her wings blurred like a humming bird as she glided across the now battered turf of Green Hills zone on her red and white patterned Lightspeed horseshoes at speeds beyond sanity, while doing manoeuvres that most jet fighters would find nauseating. She passed down a line of floating gold rings and felt them vanish as they touched her.

She skidded to a stop short of the striped pole, that generally meant something bad up ahead, and glanced up. "Though it's kinda silly that you can fly and I can't."

Apple Bloom floated down, tail whirring as she spun a ring shaped rotor blade with it. She dropped the last few feet and let the ring collapse in on itself forming a band on the tip of her tail. "You've got super-speed and you're tougher than an alicorn, what more do you want? Though I gotta admit, being a tech genius is kinda sweet all by itself. How're the new boots holding up?"

"I figure I'm at least 20% faster! Watch out!" A flight of buzz bombers swooped in and the pair spilt, Scootaloo bounding into the middle of the cluster and zipping back and forth, jumping and smashing as she went, while Apple Bloom spun up her tail, expanding the rotor to its full size. She flicked it, and it span away bisecting a buzz bomber that was diving at Scootaloo's back and freeing the bird trapped inside.

It kept spinning back to her like a boomerang, and each time, she caught it on her tail by the padded interior ring, and flicked it out again to demolish one of the outriders while Scootaloo wreaked havoc in the heart of the formation. "Whooee! Take that you mechanical bozos!"

Even as the last of Dr Robotnik's latest wave of creations fell to the earth in smoking, sparking pieces, the Earth pony was in among the carcasses, transferring various parts into her saddle bags. Scootaloo landed beside her and asked, "What're you doing?"

"I wanted to build something like your old scooter but better. Using Kutta–Joukowski Lift Theorem, and some of the kinematic motivators I just scored off these badniks, I should be able to build a sort of hover board. You should be able to do all your old stunts and a bunch more besides. I could also use some parts for the Tornado."

"Sounds cool, but isn't hover-board kind of a dorky name for a piece of gear that extreme."

"Okay, how about Extreme Gear?" Apple Bloom mused.

"I like it!" Scootaloo grinned. "Extreme Gear it is!"

"Only problem is the wind-chill factor from moving that fast, It's going to be way past cool. Maybe I can apply a diverting force to the air current flowing over the nose…"

"Later, we've got more company, and it looks like the big cheese omelette himself!"

The pair of them set themselves up and raced off to face the Doctor's latest creation.

* * *

"I'm bored…" Sweetie muttered. "When do we get to do something?"

"Based on what I remember…" Twilight trailed off, counting in her head. "About another six months. Now, keep practicing telekinesis. You're going to need to be good at it for… whatever the hell we have to do."

"You don't know?" Sweetie asked, levitating a box.

"No," Twilight said. "And it's very annoying. Basically, _something_ happened last time with a telekinetic and a pyrokinetic, but it got very confusing and neither Dash nor I have much idea _what_ it was."

* * *

9.7

* * *

Twilight Awoke, and stretched. Unlike some Loops, she'd actually been lying down when she gained awareness.

The ground under her was dusty and hard. When she opened her eyes, she saw a black sky with twinkling stars overhead and a cratered landscape.

_That's vaguely unfair,_ she thought as she looked around. _I've started the Loop already banished._ Twilight got up, using her wings as counterweights rather than flapping them given the lack of air. A moment later, there was a _pop_ as she fired off a huge air-bubble spell – while she didn't _need_ to breathe, it _was_ nice.

"Hi," Dash's voice said from behind her.

"Oh, hi, Dash." Twilight frowned, and shook her head as she turned. "Why are there two of – erk!"

The other nine Looping alicorns all waved at her. Pinkie then started pulling things out of her mane – a table, some chairs, and a board game.

"Yeah, we're going to be here a while…" Applejack muttered. "Hope Pinkie has enough board games."

"Wait," Twilight said, trying to get her Loop memories to return. "If we're _all_ up here, what's going on down there?"

* * *

"Right," the newly self-crowned Queen Chrysalis said. "Now we've managed to turn those pesky Elements against the very rulers who relied on them, we have a thousand years to rule Equestria before they get back."

King Sombra nodded. "And, of course, actually get married."

"True, true…" Chrysalis frowned. "How does an outdoor wedding sound?"

* * *

9.8 (Vulpine Fury)

* * *

Twilight came to in a familiar Canterlot Park and waited for her loop memories to come in.

And waited.

She frowned. "Shouldn't I be remembering what my life is like here?" Opening her eyes, she did a quick inventory. She was an alicorn and had her Haversack saddlebags from Eberron in easy reach. From the heft of it, she was wearing her ceremonial tiara, and not the 'big crown thingy' the Element of Magic tended to manifest as for her. She was almost to her hooves when a familiar voice, distorted by not coming from _her_ mouth reached her ears.

". . . and Harmony has been maintained for generations ever since."

Princess Twilight Sparkle very carefully poked her head from the bushes and watched a perfectly normal pre-Ponyville version of herself ponder a very familar book.

"The Elements of Harmony..." the younger Twilight mused. "I know I've heard of them before... but where?"

"Huh." The princess wondered. "Dash was right. I _was_ adorkable." She settled her wings and decided to follow as stealthily as she could. It might be kind of interesting to see how things went when she herself wasn't the focus of everything. "Hm. Should I help her... or finally see what Moondancer's party was like?"

* * *

It had been difficult keeping back and letting the native Twilight meet her future friends. "Not least because I want to strangle the little recluse at times," Princess Twilight muttered. The additional difficulties of keeping herself hidden from Princess Celestia and an astral projection of Nightmare Moon were as nothing to keeping her first actual encounter with Pinkie Pie this loop from interfering with destiny.

"Miss Pie," she said gently. "Go ahead and take care of your other new pony-slash-Summer Sun party. She needs it more than I do."

"B-but Princess Vespertine! You're a new princess! Don't you deserve one, too?" The Pink Party Pony pouted.

'Vespertine' laid a gentle wing across Pinkie's withers, glad she'd been able to come up with an alias so quickly. "I _promise_ I'll attend one of your parties very soon, just not this one. Cross my heart -"

Pinkie's eyes widened.

The looping Twilight twitched the tips of her wings. "- Hope to fly -"

Pinkie's smile widened.

"-stick a cupcake in my - OW!" The alicorn sheepishly lowered her hoof. "That last bit always gets me. Now, let me help you get into the library to set up before I have to go take care of 'Princess Stuff.' Oh, for the banner? Her name is Twilight Sparkle."

* * *

It was actually kind of nice to see the rest of Ponyville during that first day without the pressure of making sure she met her friends at the proper times to ensure they became friends during the trip to the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.

However it seemed that "Vespertine's" attempts at subtlety had failed. Somepony had told the Mayor about her.

"Here she is, your highness," Mayor Mare said, pointing right at her and looking at somepony else around the corner.

"Cadance! What a surprise!" Celestia said, with her eyes closed in a friendly smile. The smile turned to shock when she opened her eyes and the princess before her had the wrong coat color. "Twilight? What? How?" Under the shock was pride; Twilight could tell.

Twilight curtseyed exactly the same amount Luna would have if she were in her right mind, a bit of archaic formality to drive her point home. "I'm not the Twilight you sent to check on the preparations today." She tilted her head and checked the position of the sun and the weather. "She's doing exactly what you assigned her to do, despite herself. And from what's going on with the weather, she's just meeting the third of her new friends." She chuckled at herself. "For convenience's sake, call me Vespertine."

Celestia's guarded expression would have wounded her deeply before the loops, but she'd been through enough loops to know this was mainly a show for the Mayor. Most wouldn't have the sheer knowledge of Celestia to know where she got her tells from. After the Mayor was gently dismissed, the two alicorns began to converse in earnest.

* * *

"You foal!" Nightmare Moon gloated. "I've destroyed the Elements of Harmony! Celestia is imprisoned in the sun! And best of all, I've got your alicorn sister at my mercy. What chance does a normal unicorn such as you stand against me?"

The native Twilight Sparkle scrunched her nose up. "Sister? I don't have a sister."

"I know I've said this before, but... You're kidding. You're kidding, right?" Nightmare Moon asked.

Vespertine smirked from within her bonds as she heard her friends, or at least this loop's version of them. "You're about to get schooled, Luna."

* * *

"But Princess Vespertine!" Twilight Sparkle protested. "I don't get it! Where did you come from? I mean, I appreciate the distraction you provided..."

"Well, Twilight," Pinkie Pie said. "When a momma alicorn and a daddy alicorn love each other very much..."

"Pinkie!" Rarity gasped, scandalized.

The looping Twilight laughed. "Let's just say that Cadance and I share some things in common, and you and I share common ancestors, Twilight."

* * *

9.9 (Rufus Shinra)

* * *

Twilight woke up and took quickly notice of her surroundings, with the casual expertise that came with a very long experience in finding out the most information possible from a single glance.

_Human housing, Japanese traditional_, she immediatly deduced as she saw the paper walls. The next item was another obvious help to her. _A TV set, early nuclear era and... OK, I'm still in unicorn shape and no additional memories. So... where am I?_

She turned around when she heard one of the doors sliding, facing a mid-twenties human, holding a wrench while his clothes and hands had some traces of motor oil. He apparently didn't look surprised in any way to the purple unicorn that appeared in his house:

"So... Looper?"

"Yes," answered the wielder of the Element of Magic, pleased to see that she wouldn't have to wait too much to know where she ended up. "You too?"

"Not exactly," he said, before putting back his tool in a cupboard. "You could say that I'm 'Awake', but not in the sense you guys are."

"How so?" she asked, interested in a possible variation of the common pattern of Loopers and Anchors.

"Have you met Ranma, Harry or the others? Have they told you why the multiverse is looping like that?"

"Yes," Twilight admitted. "They told me about that computer, Yggdrasil, and how they had to reboot the various universes periodically with us inside."

"Right," the young man said, nodding.

"And what does this mean for your universe? You said you were 'Awake' in a different way? Are you an Anchor?" Twilight continued.

"No, just the sysadmin's boyfriend."

"Oh. You must have seen..." Twilight trailed off.

"Pretty much every Anchor and quite a few regular Loopers end up here sooner or later so they can meet the Norns. Beyond that, it's quite straightforward around here: no special memories, you come with your original body and such. Take a break, enjoy the food, things like that." He shrugged.

"Right..." Twilight accepted the information, thinking. "Anything of note?"

"Yes: don't get between Urd and the TV, unless you want to get in a prank war with a goddess. Anyway, tell me about your Loop, I saw quite a lot here, but colored unicorns are a first."

Twilight looked around as the noisy machines were apparently doing their work, under the frantic orders of an apparently young teenager. However, having known immortal beings even before awakening to the Loops, the unicorn knew better. Especially as the engineer who welcomed her in this dimension introduced said young girl as the Norn of the Future, which, according to the few things she heard from the older Loopers, was a full-blown Goddess, with a capital G.

Which did not stop her from acting like a child as her older sister teased her during the measurements. The unicorn took a brief look at the electronic-covered helmet which was perfectly fitting her cranium and her own horn, and shifted positions.

"Nice flank," commented the white-haired Norn of the Past.

"Huh, thanks. I guess?" Twilight replied, uneasily.

"I checked on Yggdrasil about your universe. Cutie Marks, they're called? That's cute! Everyone with a nice little brand on their flanks..."

"That's not worse than the ones on your face," replied Twilight, pointing her hoof at the sigils on Urd's face.

"Ours are more... stylish."

"If you say so," commented the unicorn before turning her attention to the younger goddess. "So, what exactly are you measuring?"

"Your dimensional signature, to have a precise fix on your original dimension," answered Skuld without looking away from her computer. "I have to be sure about your original timeline if we want to get this mess fixed one of these millenia."

"Doesn't your 'Yggdrasil' manage that already?"

"I don't know precisely when you started looping. That's one of the problems with dimensions where time-travel is actually accessible to non-divine beings. So, since that you're the Anchor _and_ a time-traveller of your own, I can get that information from you."

"Oh," said the purple unicorn while remembering her first experiment with time travel. "Oops?"

"Yes, 'oops'," said Urd. "But she can probably deal with that. Emphasis on 'probably'; she'll most likely need a helping hand from her nice older sister."

"Why would I need Belldandy for that?" snarked back Skuld.

"Anyway," said Urd while bringing her attention back to Twilight. "Do you plan to stay here for a while?"

"If that's not intruding on you. And it depends how long 'for a while' would last."

"Long enough to meet humans unaware of magic, other dimensions and stuff," Urd said vaguely.

"Done!" said the chilidish voice to her right, interrupting them.

She felt the helmet release itself from her head, letting her mane free from its tight hold. At the same time, one of the doors opened itself, letting in the Norn of the present, followed by Keiichi. Twilight felt the urge to bow her head to the young woman whose pace and standing reminded her of Celestia, back in her home universe. Behind the appearances of youth and frailty were hidden power and kindness she could feel in every part of her body.

The goddess was holding a plate filled with food while Keiichi, behind her, carried in his arms some mechanical contraption that reminded her of some of the Loops where Pinkie took the role of one of the Flim and Flam Brothers. When the plate was delicately left in front of her, she knew instantly that she would not eat more perfect food in a thousand loops.

"Err...," began the engineer while nodding towards his device, "I don't know if you need that, but..."

"Yes?"

"Well, you have... hooves. So, well, it may be difficult to eat and..." Keiichi trailed off in a cloud of politeness.

"Keiichi-san wants to say that he designed this prosthesis to allow you to use sticks or other food ustensils if you want to," Belldandy intervened helpfully.

"Excuse me? You _designed_ and _built_ a prosthesis for a species you never saw before? In less than two hours?" Twilight blinked.

"... Yes?"

"Are you sure that you are not a wizard of some kind yourself?" Twilight asked.

"As far as I know."

"Keiichi-san is very talented with machines," the goddess said with a cheerful smile. "He loves them and they love him back."

Twilight though for a moment about simply using her telekinesis to take the sticks and start eating.

_Oh, why the hay not, after all?_

She held her front hooves forward, in a position allowing the engineer to fit his devices to them.

* * *

The small prefab was, despite her initial expectations, as welcoming and full of life as her library tree could be back in Ponyville, albeit in a different way. While a few books, mostly technical and scientific, were left here and there, most of the internal space was taken by hundreds of tools, spare parts and the occasional vehicle, everything having some order beneath the apparent chaos.

An order ruled by Keiichi's boss, Chihiro. Twilight heard her name spoken by the engineer, always with respect and even some kind of awe, sparking her own curiosity at someone who could inspire such feelings to a man whose instinctive grasp of mechanics was only surpassed by his theoretical understanding of the scientific principles behind every engine or device he owned.

So she asked to see her, and Urd said a few seconds later that she would help, shoving a pill into her mouth.

Thus her current human shape, with no extravagance beyond a small tattoo on her arm representing her cutie mark. It wasn't exactly _normal¸_ but at least it had hardly come at her cold.

"Twilight, huh?" said Chihiro as Keiichi left the workshop to deliver a freshly-repaired motorcycle to its owner.

"Yes," answered the newly human Anchor.

"Quite the meaningful name...," commented the engineer before looking back at the engine in front of her. "Could you give me the size 8 wrench, Twi'?"

"Of course," she answered before taking the right tool from the wall where it was fixed.

"So, how long will you stay in Nekomi?" asked Chihiro while receiving the wrench.

"I'm not sure right now, but since Keiichi and Belldandy's... family are letting me stay at their home, I'm trying to make myself useful around here." Twilight made a noncommittal gesture.

"Hmm, do you have any engineering training?"

"I can work my way around a few things, but I'm a scientist myself, not an engineer..." Twilight said apologetically, before adding "…but I'm eager to learn."

The owner of the 'Whirlwind' workshop turned her head towards Twilight and examined her.

"What did Keiichi say?" she finally asked.

"That you'd probably give me a chance to get some experience."

"... of course he'd say that." Chihiro tapped her chin. "OK, here's what we're going to do: there's an old engine near the rear door, behind the shop. I want you to take it apart... nicely, and get as much spare parts as you can from it. And I expect you to tell me why you kept or threw away each part. That'll give me an idea of what you can do."

"Thank you," answered Twilight. "Can I use your tools?"

"I don't expect you to use your hands or magic!" joked Chihiro. "Make yourself some place inside so I can keep an eye on you while you do the job."

Twilight nodded and went outside to find the engine.

Two hours later, the Anchor was still struggling with some parts, under the amused eye of Keiichi's boss and, as she went for another Allen key, asked her:

"Why isn't Keiichi back by now?"

"Huh, the customer was quite far... and K will come near his home on his way back, so he's probably having lunch there and be back in half an hour or so."

"Oh, OK," answered Twilight while ignoring the feeling that she was forgetting something. "So, how am I doing for now?"

"Not that bad for a beginner," the mechanic commented. "You have a knack for choosing the good tools, so that's good, but you don't have the experience and it shows in the order you're choosing the pieces to remove. But... I'll probably be able to get you in shape if you're willing to, and have the time, of course."

"Thanks a lot, I'd appreciate it."

_Some advanced engineering could really be useful back in Equestria. So many opportunities for pranking... and useful things too!_ Thought the humanized unicorn with a smile, before going back to her previous chain of thoughts._ Anyway, what am I forgetting now..._

"Oh, by the way, I couldn't help notice some of the textbooks on the shelves," she said, pointing to one of them. "I didn't really expect some theoretical quantum physics in an automobile workshop."

"Huh? Nothing of interest here, just some reading for myself. There's always something else to learn, you know."

"I'd never say anything else in a million years," answered Twilight.

_And that's probably not a figure of speech._

"Anyway, I've got to finish this transmission and then we'll take a break to eat, OK?" Chihiro said.

"As you wish, Chihiro."

* * *

Twilight went back to her engine, struggling with a screw she couldn't get unstuck and, after a few minutes, sat on the ground, trying to think at another way of getting the job done. Her thoughts were however interrupted by Chihiro's voice:

"Can I have the size 2 wrench, Twi?" the engineer asked without turning around.

"Sure," she answered, before using her horn's telekinesis to carry the wrench to Chihiro's open hand.

_Wait a sec. My horn?_

Twilight put her hoof in front of her and realized she turned back into her original shape at some point during the past minute, without even noticing it as she was thinking about that damn screw.

_Urd's shapeshifting pills had a limited duration! _That_'s what I was forgetting!_

The surprise made her lose her grip over the wrench, which fell with a loud noise on the ground.

She saw Chihiro turn her head towards the noise... and the purple unicorn now in her workshop.

Twilight had an embarassed smile.

Chihiro's eyes met hers.

"There's a perfectly logical explanation..." began the unicorn.

Chihiro began twitching.

"Give me a few seconds to think about one..." she continued as she took back the wrench through her telekinesis.

She, however, did not have those few seconds, as the engineer started yelling:

CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTE!"

Before Twilight had any time to react, the engineer was over her, hugging her.

"What."

* * *

When Chihiro finally calmed down and stopped brushing Twilight's mane, the two of them sat near a table in front of each other:

"So..." began the engineer. "You're not from around here, are you?"

"Not really. And you're taking it really well," Twilight complimented.

"What? The fact that you are actually a magical purple unicorn with a recommendation from Keiichi?" Chihiro shrugged.

"Yes, that," Twilight said, deadpan.

"Giving who he's living with, I find it difficult to be surprised anymore."

"What are you talking about?" Twilight asked, suddenly curious. _She couldn't mean…_

"Twilight, please. He has two sentient robots living in his home, I've seen quite the lightshows in the direction of his house, a speaking cat and... well..."

She took one book off its shelf and left it in front of Twilight so she could read its title:

"Norse Myths, Legends and Pantheon," she read aloud. "Oh... it was obvious, wasn't it?"

"Pretty much."

"But why haven't you spoken to him about it? Or with anyone else?"

"It's his private life. Why should I get involved?" Chihiro shook her head. "He works well, his goddess of a girlfriend too when she comes here, so why should I get thing more complicated than they are. When he introduces me one of his 'foreign correspondants', I know I should expect some weirdness here and there, but he's some good judge of character overall, so if he tells me that you can learn something from me, why the hell not?"

"That was... unexpected."

"Says the purple unicorn," Chihiro snarked. "Anyway, who should I call to get that shaping problem fixed?"

"Probably Urd. Just a question... How long have you known about, well, all of that?"

"Decades, probably more."

"... What? You're a Looper too?" Twilight asked, surprised.

"Not exactly," she answered. "I asked one of your 'foreign correspondants' friends about what was happening some time ago, and apparently, our proximity to Keiichi and the goddesses makes some memories about these 'Loops' of yours leak back to us. Some unconscious thing, apparently, but that's fine too."

"So that's why you have advanced textbooks and everything, because you have had..."

"More time, yes. And, well, that's probably required to keep up with Keiichi now."

"How so?"

"Let's just say that he's probably the most knowledgeable engineer on our world, now. So, when you'll be over with me, if you want some additional training, you should go and see him." Chihiro picked up the textbook and slotted it back into the shelf. "Now, where were we?"

* * *

9.10

Nightmare Moon burst into the building. "Tremble-"

"Welcome back!" shouted a hundred voices, so loud together that they drowned out most of her first sentence.

Chopping off her triumphant speech in favour of actually looking, Nightmare Moon blinked in shock.

There was a big banner hung over the top of the room, reading 'Welcome Back, Princess Luna!' Every table was surrounded by ponies all looking at her, with broad grins instead of the fear she was expecting. And there were a dozen day guards at the walls, with _two_ dozen guards in black armour… the night guards still existed?

Nightmare was astonished. She'd thought her sister would instantly disband the Night Guards as punishment for her rebellion – if not execute them outright, in her darker moments.

While she was thinking, the pegasi in black-and-purple armour had marched up to the area just below the stage. The two in the lead bowed.

"Princess Luna, it is good to see you have returned to us. While our organization has dwindled until recently, we have maintained our traditions and wish to swear allegiance to you anew," the one on the left said. He was the spitting image of her old, old friend, Sunshine…

With a flash of internal guilt, Nightmare realized she hadn't thought of her friends in a thousand years.

Still, she concealed it admirably, and bowed to them in return. "My thanks…?"

"I am Sunshine, of the line of your guards since time immemorial," he answered. "Princess Celestia informed us you were returning, and authorized us to recruit back up to strength – and recommended this party, as a matter of fact."

Another crack opened in the layer of ice around Nightmare's heart. This was not how she had imagined her return to Equestria going, but it felt… better. Cleaner.

Every muscle in her body twitched as a warm feeling rubbed against her cheek.

"It's good to have you back, my dear sister," Celestia said, nuzzling the other alicorn. "Would you like some cake?"

Nightmare focused on the plate that hovered up to her. The cake on it was made with sponge, and smelt of bananas, and there was a hint of moonberry jam. It was covered with icing in the shape of her cutie mark.

_Oh, buck it._

"Yes, thank you." Princess Luna said.

* * *

Twilight grinned. "Told you."

Celestia nodded to her. "Yes, you did. I should have done this the first time."

"Though," Twilight continued more seriously, watching as Luna took the oaths of her guards, "one of the main reasons this worked was because we know her so well now. Not just how she is normally, but how she thought as Nightmare Moon. And if it had gone wrong, there would have been a lot more ponies in the danger zone."

The Princess of the Sun nodded, accepting the point. "I am sometimes astonished by your growth, Twilight. Every time I see you, you've gained another few decades – or centuries, or even millennia – of experience. And I'm glad to have a Loop alone with you, so I can get to know you all over again."

Twilight shifted uncomfortably. "You know I'm not comfortable with praise…"

"That is one of the very things that is praiseworthy." Celestia nudged her. "Come on, I want to introduce Luna to you."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

And another set. Again, please take note of who is mentioned as the author, for many of these loops - I have in the past been encouraged to "focus on" Loops that aren't actually mine...

Thanks to everyone who contributed.

References:

9.4 includes Captain Planet, Star Wars (note: sith element), Aladdin.

9.5 has the Macross setting (AKA Robotech, I think.)

9.6... Sonic the Hedgehog, of course.

9.9 is Ah! My Goddess, which is (as stated) where the admins running the multiverse live.


	10. Chapter 10

10.1

* * *

"…Friendship isn't always easy. But it's definitely worth fighting for!" Twilight finished.

Beating Discord as per the first time was relatively unusual – but, well, it was nice to go along with things. Besides, she wanted to analyze how the corruption effect worked.

The rainbow of light crashed down on Discord… and bounced off.

"Yes!" Discord shouted, materializing a guitar and playing a chord. "I knew it!"

"Knew what?" Twilight asked, feeling a bit lost all of a sudden. The rest of the world was being fixed by the Elements, so they _were_ still working…

"Why, that the Elements of Harmony don't work on someone who's actually, genuinely good and redeemed!" Discord said, winking. "I'll admit that they got me the first time, Twilight Sparkle, but not when I'm just pranking the lot of you."

"...oh. Well, welcome to the Loops, Discord." Twilight said.

"Glad to be here." Discord snapped his claws, and drinks materialized. "You've won an exclusive interview with the Spirit of Chaos! Someone get the Foal Free press. Or has that not formed yet?"

* * *

Celestia flashed into existence at the edge of Ponyville. "Well done, Twilight, and all of you, for defeating… Dis…cord?"

"Anyway," Discord said, as he passed the last of the cupcakes out. "That's enough Generosity to be going on with. What's next… oh, yes. Honesty! Oh, come and join us, Celly. Do let me know if I get anything wrong."

Celestia sank back on her haunches numbly. _What the hay…_

"Anyway. One of the moments that always sticks in my mind, with your _dear_ ruler there, is when she was a little filly and tried to make her bedroom lamp brighter."

Celestia shook her head frantically. "Discord!"

"What?" Discord looked over at her, pouring her a cup of tea. Sideways. "I'm hurt, I really am. Look at me being all honest. That's an Element of Harmony, isn't it? Anyway, she basically pulled a tiny bit of the sun into the bedroom lamp, it exploded, and her face was this hilarious sooty black colour for weeks! It took her months for her eyelashes to grow back!"

* * *

10.2

* * *

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Twilight said, pacing in front of Pinkie. "You can't just… have physical reactions which predict the future! It causes an information paradox, which means… and… the whole… where does the party cannon… gaaaaah!"

And then Twilight's head exploded.

There was surprisingly little blood, but a great deal of flame and smoke. Twilight's body stood there with smoke pouring out of it, as Pinkie stared in shock.

Then the library door opened, and Twilight came out. "Hi, Pinkie – oh, no. Not again." Lifting up 'her' headless body, she began to carry it back inside. "Sorry. One of the experimental Twibots got out. I suppose I should have installed an extra safety valve…"

Pinkie's head swung between the unconcerned purple unicorn, and the blast scarring on the road. "…what?"

"Experimental Twibots. I was trying to make them so that, in case one of us ever gets hurt, we can still activate the Elements." Twilight indicated the body she was carrying. "Only thing is, I haven't got them nearly good enough yet to even let them start learning about how their element works. Did you show off your Pinkie sense?"

"…yeah," Pinkie said, still a bit stunned.

"That'll be it." Twilight nodded, pleased. "I'll make sure to lower the gain on their cognitive engines. There's some things it takes a _lot_ more experience to understand."

Over where the robot Twilight had been standing, several large and heavy objects landed from a pegasus removal van.

* * *

10.3

* * *

"…girls," Scootaloo began, "What _is_ Diamond Tiara's special talent?"

"Huh." Sweetie frowned, thinking. "Bullying?"

"But that's not very relevant to a diamond tiara, is it?" Scootaloo said, still thinking. "I mean, you know all those talks we got from Twilight and Rarity and Appejack and Dash an' stuff… how every cutie mark is worth somethin'?"

Applebloom nodded. "Right, an' bullyin' ain't much of a talent, either."

"Wait." Sweetie looked up. "I think I might have it. You know how she _never_ admits she actually got something wrong?"

The other two nodded.

"Well, diamond is the hardest gemstone. Rarity told me that once."

"Just once?" Scootaloo snarked.

"All right, probably more than once. But I remembered it that time." Sweetie shrugged. "Anyway, I think she just won't change her mind, or break, or anything."

"Too bad she's stuck on jerk…" Applebloom muttered.

"Actually, I wonder what _she_ thinks her talent is," Scootaloo said, "Maybe we should ask?"

* * *

"Oh, how tragic," Diamond Tiara said as the Crusaders approached. "It's the opposite of a jackpot. Triple blanks."

The Crusaders stopped, looking from one to another.

"That was actually a pretty good one," Sweetie said. "Seven?"

"Eight." Scootaloo countered.

"Yeah." Sweetie nodded. "Anyway. Diamond, we were wondering… what does your cutie mark represent?"

Diamond Tiara blinked. "Er… it means… I'm daddy's special princess!"

"That's more like _her_ speed." Scootaloo pointed up, where Princess Twilight – having ascended while handling Nightmare Moon for a change, this Loop – was flying to the shops. "You know. Alicorn."

"…oh." Diamond frowned. "I… don't actually know."

"Kin ah have a look?" Applebloom asked.

"What?" Diamond Tiara tried to turn her flank away from them, which only revealed the other one. "Why?"

"Well, we're tryin' to work out how cutie marks work," Applebloom continued, as Sweetie Belle snapped a picture with a camera she'd borrowed. "So we're tryin' to work out what they all mean. How'd you get yours?"

* * *

"Well, that story didn't make much sense," Scootaloo muttered, "Why would Princess Celestia specifically send a letter to her dad saying his daughter was a nice filly? Especially if they'd never met."

"Yeah. I kinda think she was makin' it up." Applebloom agreed. "Pity. It'd be nice to know how she _really_ got her cutie mark."

"Aha!"

The others turned to Sweetie. "What is it?"

"Well, it looks like most of the diamonds in her tiara are brilliant-cut. That means they're the best kind of cut for a generic diamond. I can't see any princess-cut gems, but this is the important one." Sweetie pointed to the stone right at the middle of the cutie mark tiara. "That's a well polished but _un_cut stone."

The others stared at her as though she'd grown a second head.

"What? I helped Rarity for a couple of Loops." Sweetie blushed. "Anyway. That means she might actually be – literally – a diamond in the rough. She's just never had the chance – never faced the stress – that would let her shine."

Scootaloo rasied a hoof. "By stress, we're talkin', like, an alien invasion, right?"

"Probably," Sweetie giggled. "But it does mean something. She's been too spoiled to develop her full potential."

"Huh." Applebloom kicked the floor. "An' now ah feel bad for her. Why did we have t' do this, again?"

* * *

10.4

* * *

"Why are we here, again?" Rainbow Dash asked Twilight.

"Well, I don't feel like dealing with Discord, so we are going to nip that in the bud right away," Twilight answered as they turned around another bush. "Besides, this shouldn't take... long..." Twilight fell silent as they arrived at the place where Discords statue was supposed to be.

Emphasis on _supposed to._

"Okay, looks like we have a looper," Applejack said. "Well, this should be interesting." The group went inside to find Celestia and whatever trick Discord had set up, only to find a very confused Celestia reading a report.

"Um, princess? We think..." Twilight began before being cut-off by Celestia.

"That Discord has returned? Yes. Yes he has. Also, he is re-organizing our tax system to more efficient form and has cleared several our laws to be more streamlined and, oh yeah… he is _not acting like Discord_!" The Sun Princess shouted. "He is... not chaotic! He even organized the guard rotation to be clearer."

Luna walked out of a room next door and handed a cup of wine to Celestia, before taking a long snip from hers.

"He just looked over the workers union proposal and reformed it into the most efficient organization We have ever seen," Luna said, shaking her head. "He is currently looking over our diplomatic relations."

"Should we stop him?" Twilight asked tentatively.

"That's just it. We are not sure! On the one hoof… IT'S DISCORD! On the other hoof, the entire system would be improved drastically by these changes! I can't decide!" Celestia cried. Discord entered the room carrying another report.

"See, 'Tia, if you had replaced the old inherited nobility with 'Nobility through achievement', you could have reduced the deficit by 32% and increased the general happiness by 22%!"

Celestia stared at Discord as he explained in great detail, before simply taking the paper and leaving. Luna soon followed.

"You're having too much fun," Twilight said to Discord, who had a crocodilian grin on his face. "But isn't this against your nature?"

"What? Randomly re-organizing the entire nation? Nah, I am merely being myself. I bet _you_ never saw this one coming!"

* * *

10.5

* * *

"TREMBLE IN FEAR, MORTAL!" Nightmare Moon shouted. "WHEREVER YOU ARE, WHEN I FIND YOU THEN I SHALL WREAK MY VENGEANCE!"

"Wait," Twilight said, frowning. "Mortal, singular?"

"Indeed." Nightmare Moon's voice was a bit less loud this time. "I, Nightmare Moon, noticed that for the last few years my Nightmare Night tribute from Ponyville has been _significantly lower than normal._"

Twilight realized that clearly Luna was Awake – either that or something was very wrong with the world – and decided to go along with it anyway. "Do you know why?"

"I suspect." Nightmare Moon walked down from the dais, casually batting away two guards with her wings. "I suspect that it is a pony who arrived here between three and five years ago, and one who has _far_ too much of a taste for candy." Her nostrils flared, as she sniffed. "There is one here who smells of sugar…"

Pinkie Pie dove out the window.

"AHA!" Nightmare Moon bellowed, launching herself into the air with powerful wing beats and following. "YOU SHALL GIVE ME RECOMPENSE, GLUTTON!"

"Nevar!" Pinkie's voice came from outside. "Whoops!"

There was a crash.

"DECOYING ME INTO A HOUSE IS NOT RECOMPENSE!" Nightmare Moon shouted, amid the crunch of falling masonry.

Twilight trotted outside to watch. It was all very impressive, actually – while Pinkie wasn't Awake, she was treating this as just as much of a game as Luna was, and kept tricking the alicorn into overshooting or hitting trees.

After about twenty minutes, Celestia appeared in a flash of light. "Twilight! I heard that… what is going on?"

Twilight shrugged. "As I understand it, Nightmare Moon is annoyed that she wasn't getting enough candy from Ponyville, and wants to get payback."

Celestia's jaw dropped. "…you mean it actually worked? I thought it was an old mare's tale!"

"What, Nightmare Moon?" Twilight asked.

"No, Nightmare _Night_." Celestia watched as Pinkie pulled off what could be best described as a Double Team, tricking Nightmare Moon into embedding herself into the floor. "I had hoped that a holiday where ponies spent their time outside, at night, enjoying themselves and enjoying scaring themselves, might help to convince her that her night was not truly neglected. I did not expect that the mythology that has grown up around it would be… accurate. In every particular."

Pinkie dodged again, and then gasped as Nightmare Moon collided with Sugarcube corner. "Oh, no!"

"AHA!" Nightmare Moon boomed. "SO THIS IS WHERE YOU'VE BEEN KEEPING IT!" The black alicorn emerged from the attic with a comically large bag labelled 'candy', and flew off towards the moon.

"…what the _buck?_" Rainbow Dash managed.

* * *

10.6 (Mandemon)

* * *

"Twilight, return to the castle. Carriages are waiting for you and others. Yes, I am Awake. So are they. Celestia."

A short and precise letter, so unlike Celestia, Twilight noted. Had something happened? She had come to Ponyville in advance to set up things, but had noted that the others were Awake and thus she didn't really have anything to do. However, it was the day when Nightmare Moon would return and Twilight was slightly anxious to see whenever Luna was Awake or not. Lately, she had been Awake more often than previously and had made each appearance varied. The time she had appeared singing _Hello my baby _had been particularly funny. Twilight had never expected her to juggle all those instruments alone with magic.

She was not surprised to see the carriage waiting for her, with the others already there. When Celestia really wanted something done, it was done. She remembered that one loop with that whole three way Pony-Zebra-Griffin war. It took less than a week for Celestia and Luna to smash two other nations. As it turned out, the problem was not having enough power to deal with problems, but in knowing how to solve problems without using a metaphorical hammer on them all.

The group arrived at the Canterlot just as the night was falling. They noted that the place was rather full of nobles from pretty much everywhere – Celestia must be planning for something big. They were guided into the throne room, where Celestia was waiting for them.

"Oh good, you girls are here. Now, we just need to wait for one more pony and we are ready to proceed," Celestia said with a smile.

"Oh? Who?" Twilight asked.

Right on cue, Nightmare Moon appeared right next to Celestia, rousing a shocked gasp from the gathered nobles. Just as quickly as she appeared, Luna also shed her Nightmare Moon appearance and assumed her normal one.

"Ew, icky stuff. I never get used to that." Luna said. "Right, let's get this show on the road."

Right on cue, both used their magic to induce Alicorn transformations in all six Element bearers, confusing pretty much every pony in the room.

"Right, so here is the deal. Me and my sister here, we are kinda tired of this, so we are holding a vacation. Every single petty argument or whatever you suckers have, these six will deal with it. We are going to go and relax. Ciao!" Celestia said with a smile, before teleporting away alongside Luna. She reappeared five seconds later, causing everyone to sigh. Of course their beloved Princess would not do anything like this.

"Oh yeah, I am not joking. Also, you six, don't call us unless it's multiverse threatening stuff, okay? We _really_ need this," Celestia said, and disappeared again.

A stunned silence descended.

"Um, surprise?" Twilight said, with an embarrassed smile on her face.

* * *

10.7

* * *

"ATTENTION, PONIES!" Luna shouted, appearing above the Ponyville town hall an hour into the Nightmare Night celebrations. "I AM ON A DIET! PLEASE PAY TRIBUTE IN VEGETABLES!"

Applejack and Carrot Top exchanged glances, then both started trotting to their respective homes to get their market stalls.

* * *

10.8

* * *

"Hello, Princess!" Twilight said, stepping aside from the door. "It's good to see you. I was wondering whether you'd come, since there was that meeting with dignitaries from Saddle Arabia."

Celestia paused. "What do you mean? I set it up so that they would be coming here. It is a diplomatic visit _by_ them, not _to_ them."

Twilight shrugged. "I don't know. I got a letter saying that you wouldn't be able to make the magic show because of a need to visit another country." _Which was a surprise, actually…_ "I invited Luna and Cadence instead, and they both seemed very pleased by the idea."

A sky-blue unicorn went past, reading from one of Twilight's notebooks. "Trixie sees… so that is the basis behind advanced manifoldic formation of friendship harmonics… oh!" The notebook closed with a snap, and Trixie swept her hat off her head in a bow. "Princess. I had not realized that you would be present as well as your sister and niece. You do me honour."

"Ah, you must be Trixie." Celestia returned the bow. "Twilight told me that you had reconciled after a minor disagreement last year, though she did not tell me you were going to be a part of this display."

"Well, she was in the area," Twilight said, nodding to a cart that was parked out near the back window of the library. "I didn't realize until after I was told you were going to Saddle Arabia."

"Yes, about that." Celestia frowned. "I don't know why you think that – it certainly wasn't in the letter I wrote… may I see the one you received?"

Twilight passed it over readily. Truth be told, she wasn't sure _why_ Celestia had changed her plans this Loop, but had assumed it was something to do with the newly Looping Trixie's different behaviour. It was hard to tell what effect a change would have… but if she _hadn't_ in fact changed them, then it made no sense.

"You are indeed correct. How strange." Celestia shook her head. "While I confess I do not understand the reason for the altered correspondence, it was never my intent to miss your display – which I now understand will be a joint one. Since the Saddle Arabian diplomats should be arriving at some point, perhaps we shall just go ahead as scheduled."

"Works for me." Twilight opened another of her notebooks, and held it out for Trixie. "What about one of these to start with?"

"A meteor swarm?" Trixie examined the magical formulae. "Very daring. I see it is something of a trust exercise – since the pony running the spell cannot also run the shield."

"Basically." Twilight grinned. "Be an impressive opener, won't it?"

"Indeed." Trixie nodded her respect to Twilight. "You are clearly learning what Trixie has to teach you about showmareship, Twilight."

* * *

_"You_ are Princess Celestia?" one of the Saddle Arabian emirs asked, blinking at the figure in front of them. "You do not look very much like a pony..."

"Well," Discord replied, adjusting his fake wig and dress and keeping his voice to a falsetto, "We pride Ourself on an egalitarian nation, where any may be whatever she or he desires."

* * *

"Most impressive, both of you." Luna said to the two panting unicorns after nearly six solid hours of magical pyrotechnics. "I had not known half of those spells were possible."

"Neither did Trixie…" Trixie muttered. "She has learned much… er, I mean, _I_ have learned much from Twilight."

"Indeed." Luna turned to Celestia. "Why so worried, sister?"

"I don't know why those diplomats didn't turn up. It's such a shame, they would have found that _very_ impressive…" Celestia fretted. "I can't help thinking something went very wrong…"

A scroll materialized next to her. Twilight automatically caught it, then relinquished it to Celestia who opened it.

"Let's see… oh dear… 'Dear Celly. Sorry for messing with your letters, I wanted a holiday. Don't worry, I'm not evil any more… much… but it's just so boring staring at hedges the whole time. Anyway, the Saddle Arabians loved me. Apparently I'm very good at belly dancing, who knew? I should have known I had a hidden talent. So, long story short, you've got all the agreements you wanted and then some, but they think I'm you. I look lovely in a dress. Paradoxically yours, Discord.'" Celestia put the letter down, and breathed deeply. In, out. In…

"HE DID WHAT?!"

"Well," Twilight muttered to Trixie, "That's one way to cause chaos."

"Indeed." Trixie blinked. "Him too?"

"Occasionally. It's just so hard to _tell_, with him…"

* * *

10.9 (Madfish): Fluttershy and Rush (offshoot of 40K Loop)

(this first few paragraphs is a repeat from earlier, just to remind people where we are.)

* * *

Fluttershy walked among the drifts of the freezing valleys she found herself on at the start of the loop. She had had to restore her alicorn status just to survive the frozen wasteland and though the weather was harsher than any other. She could have allowed her self to die and end the loop for herself but if the other's were here somewhere they would need her help given the few times she had tried a spell beyond telekinesis she had felt sick as if monsters had tried to climb through her horn into her skull. Besides she owed it to her current companions mother to make sure they grew up big and strong first.

"I hope Twilight's going to be ok," she said to the wolves beside her, "Without her magic she gets- twitchy..."

She trailed of as one of the wolves, a cub but larger than her pegasus self, drew her attention to a light flickering in the distance. Light's meant people, hopefully friendly people.

As they approached she found herself disappointed as all that was there was some sort of pod covered with ice. Scraping the ice of the hatch she gasped as she saw the child within.

The wolves panted, breath frosting in the air as they looked in at what had surprised there surrogate mother.

"No! You can't eat him. We're going to take this pod to shelter and we're going to help the poor dear. If no one comes for him you can think of him as you're new little brother."

* * *

The Emperor stood over the unconscious form of his son. Victorious in battle, as he had not been in feasting, he turned, letting those around stare at his mighty form and their fallen King. It was good to see that these people were strong. They mastered their world and its beasts, as the mighty wolves with the guards and strange winged equine creature his son kept as a pet attested.

The time for asserting his victory done, he turned back to reach down and pick his son up – only to be stymied. He found himself staring into the yellow creatures' eyes and felt its will slam into his own. Now the Emperor knew himself to be the most powerful psyker in the galaxy – but, while it takes great will to wield such power, that power is not in itself will. So, taken by surprise, he found himself frozen under its stare as the Creature had the gall to start to _lecture_ him!

"How dare you! How _dare_ you!" The Creature raged, "My Son freely invites you into his hall and even when you lost your challenge he gave you your request of victory for the second, you spit on his generosity and hospitality then strike him down by bringing an artifact of power to a duel of honour! What do you...?"

The would be Unifier of Humanity tuned out the Xeno's speech as he began to reassert his will as his own master. Only surprise had stayed his hand that long, and though he felt the force of the Xeno's attack strengthen enough to slow his limb it would not be enough to save it from being crushed under the force of his glove's powerfield.

Sometimes a fraction of a second is enough, though, and a sliver of time before he connected his chin was met by the rising Russ' fist throwing him back to the Great Hall's doors.

"You eat my food, drink my drink, then insult my household and try to kill my Mother. Let's see how you do in a fair fight!" With that Russ gestured and the two greatest wolves in the hall were at his side, one presenting him with his axe and the other with a shield.

Even from the door and with his brains rattled the Leader of Mankind could feel the touch of the warp on them. Apparently bringing his son home would be more difficult than he'd expected.

* * *

Fluttershy had learned many hard lessons in this loop; She had learned that despite her talent and the abilities she had gained through the loops some creatures could not be reasoned with, she had learned to be a good mother making sure her charges were safe and able to grow in a harsh environment, she had learned of a deep abiding pride when her sons had brought the wolves and humans of this planet together uniting them for survival and protection as a greater whole.

"I thought I was stronger now," she thought as she shivered. The fear she had conquered centuries ago rekindled by near death, the implacable, disturbing eyes she had looked into and the sheer power she witnessed there. The sound of battle and the barking of wolves carried into the hall as the people within looked out to what she couldn't see. A few of them began brushing her mane to try and offer comfort.

"Why can't I help? I'm not strong like Twilight." The sound of what could only be a building collapsing made her flinch. Her son needed her and she was so weak that she was just lying down, shivering, like she always did.

"But I wasn't strong when I went into the Everfree that first time... or when I faced the Dragon... but they needed me... no… I _was_ strong, _because_ they needed me!"

She took flight with a speed that was distinctly atypical of her, kicking open the hall shutters to avoid the battle outside. Glancing down as she made for the clouds she saw her little Leman charge out of a pile of rubble and hook the man's artifact gauntlet out to the side with his axe. Geri took the opening and leapt, teeth scoring his armoured shoulder to little apparent effect, before he was grabbed and swung bodily at Leman to break their mutual weapon lock.

Reaching the clouds, she wove an illusion to hide her actions and began to work them vigorously. "I might not be Rainbow Dash, but if Applejack can do this then I can too!"

* * *

"It seems, my Son, you've been abandoned! Like humanity ever is by the xeno when comes their time of need."

"She would never abandon me! It was she that taught me of Loyalty and Kindness on this harsh world. She took me in and made sure neither myself nor my brothers starved. With her teachings all of my Pack have prospered!"

"And yet she is gone." Punching Leman's shield squarely in the centre, sending the Primarch flying, he turned his back on him. The Emperor dealt Freki a viscous kick to the head, rendering the wolf insensate, while a gesture at Geri resulted in him flying over the surrounding buildings and out of sight.

With a berserker roar Russ returned to the fight hewing and chopping at air as the man before him skilfully evaded each strike, watching the rage in Leman's eyes build.

"I find myself disappointed. I have searched the galaxy for my stolen son, and I find that he sacrifices his skill for rage so easily." So saying he grabbed the haft of the axe swung at him and wrenched hard to break his berserking son's grip, familiar from a hundred battles against Chaos with the madness he saw before him. So he was understandably surprised to have misread the King of the Russ when Leman abruptly released both axe and rage and rammed the edge of his shield around his guard, aiming for his throat with all the skill that he'd apparently abandoned.

The Emperor jumped back, sparing himself, but the power feeds to his glove were severed as he brought it up to shield himself.

"Perhaps you are a worthy son after all!" He crowed with a smile, before he frowned seriously, "But we have much to discuss – as fun as these games have been."

Like Feni before him Russ was lifted into the air but instead of being launched away he was kept pinned to nothing as the Emperor began to talk.

* * *

Hidden above Fluttershy's illusion of stratocumulus, the clouds churned, transformed by her magic into a roiling charged mass. She carefully opened a gap in the illusion and saw Leman held aloft far below. Her reservations were put aside as she flew higher and higher straining to keep her telekinesis caressing the massive cloud bank below. Inverting herself she took a deep breath of the rarefied air and allowed herself to plummet.

Flap.

She aimed for her gap.

Flap. "I'll-"

She sped up.

Flap.

Her telekinesis firmed and began closing the gap and pushing the cloud bank down, creating a funnel.

Flap. "Not-"

She neared the wall.

Flap.

She was through the closing gap.

Flap. "Let-"

Telekinesis pulled the clouds into contact with her tail.

Flap.

She flooded the clouds with her pegasus magic and pulled them faster.

Flap. "You-"

Nearly.

Flap.

The-

Flap. "Down-"

-re.

FLAP.

Her acceleration soared as her body plummeted. Her sons' attacker beginning to look up at the funnel of storm clouds trailing her and the clearing skies as her illusion shattered.

FLAP! "Ever-"

Straining to bring her tail past her hooves as she tucked her legs.

_FLAP!_

**_BOOM!_**

Through the wall she watched as Russ fell and was dragged away by Geri, as the man raised some form of shield spell.

**_FLAP!_** "Again!"

Releasing the clouds she twisted to the side and bucked the the cloud funnel still moving down as hard as she could.

**_KRACKKK!_**

Lightning crawled across the funnel like the biggest plasma globe in the universe, then lanced down at the God Emperor of Mankind with the precision of a sniper and the force of a lance barrage.

Then the world was silent. And down from above came a yellow alicorn, her unconscious form spinning like a falling sycamore seed, a few tattered wisps of cloud catching round her like a torn parachute.

* * *

"...did you see that?" Bjorn the Fell-handed asked. "I never thought someone would beat the little mother, or Russ!"

"Well," Grimbold the Aethling chuckled, "I don't think our _guest_ thought they were that strong either. Look, he's out too!"

"A draw, by Fenrir!" Bjorn called. "Only a draw gives both sides full honour!"

"Oh, give over," one of the clanners said, gesturing at a wolf that was looking at Fluttershy. "They'll be fine in the morning."

"To lord Russ and the little mother!" Grimbold raised his horn.

Freyja Hearth-Mistress' snort could be heard over raucous cheering of the menfolk. "Honour implies our 'guest'," a word she spat like cursed Winter, "has some to regain. You saw him try and strike down our Little Mother when she justly chastised the lout. He's already shown his colours. He can stay in the stables, for I won't have him under our roof till our King is well."

From beside her a huge wolf bitch growled.

Freyja nodded, "You're right. I wouldn't trust him near the kennels with the pups either. Bring them into the Hall for now and we'll all keep watch over them."

* * *

10.10 (Filraen)

* * *

"So girls, who gets to choose how to deal with Nightmare Moon this time?"

"Ah think it's Fluttershy's, ain't it Pinkie?" Applejack offered.

"Yep," Pinkie Pie confirmed.

The yellow pegasus blinked. "In that case... Twilight, do you have that thing I asked you to keep that human loop? The one we wrote the thank-you letter?"

Twilight Sparkle grinned. "I like what you're thinking."

Fluttershy smiled. "Yes, I want to try some other magic than the Elements of Harmony to see if we can break Princess Luna out of Nightmare Moon."

"Sounds like a plan. Hang on, girls," and concentrating her magic Twilight teleported them all to Canterlot Royal Library.

"Oh, dear, when did you learn to use magic without flaring your horn?" Rarity asked, surprised.

"Oh, that?" Twilight answered, sightly flustered. "One loop I worked at Ponyville Hospital. And my horn is still flaring, it's just the light isn't visible. I had the conversion spell up because-"

"How comes the light isn't visible?!" Rainbow Dash countered. "Light is light, if there's light you can see it, if there isn't it's dark."

**"SHHHH!"**

Rainbow quickly looked around with a panicked look on her face.

Twilight whispered in response "Keep it down Rainbow! We are in a library."

"Oops, sorry."

Twilight continued explaining "Anyway, it's like the X-Rays they use to check broken bones. You can't see light but-"

"All right, egghead stuff." Rainbow Dash waved with one hoof, dismissing Twilight's words.

Twilight just glared at Rainbow for a moment before returning to Rarity. "Sorry for forgetting to tell you, but we are going to do this at nighttime and we don't want the Princesses getting distracted with a horn flaring in the dark if we want to put Fluttershy in the spotlight."

Rarity nodded "Makes sense to light only the most important part of the scenery to draw all the attention; which reminds me, are you going to be all right Fluttershy?"

"I... want to try this, so don't worry Rarity, I'll be fine." The yellow pegasus tried to reassure her friend.

"All right."

"However," Fluttershy added, "I'm going to need your help with Princess Luna."

"Sure."

* * *

Celestia was alone in Canterlot Castle's Royal Hall. She had dismissed the Royal Guard just after sunset with the justification that she needed to get ready for the Summer Sun Celebration ceremony in Ponyville. In reality, she was setting herself as a first line of defense against Nightmare Moon and as bait, should she fail, so her faithful student Twilight Sparkle could reclaim the Elements of Harmony.

At some point her patience bore fruit, as she felt an intimately familiar magical presence attacking her. Dodging to one side, she found the figure she was waiting for in the royal throne.

"Celestia," Nightmare Moon spat, as if it were the worst imaginable insult, "we meet again."

Suddenly Celestia felt a strange wave of magic pass through her. The sky had somehow lost part of its color, leaving it gray. Celestia tried her connection to the Sun, finding it farther from her control than ever. Was she beaten so easily? Had she failed in rescuing her sister? Why did Nightmare Moon look so surprised right now?

Celestia didn't really have time to ponder such questions as she started hearing music, a soft and slow tune. Then suddenly a spot in the dark hall became illuminated, showing a yellow pegasus who seemed to look at both her and Nightmare Moon. After a while, and following the music, she started to sing.

_Fate has been cruel and order unkind_  
_How can I have sent you away?_

The pegasus had a soft voice, a nice match for the sad song she was singing.

_The blame was my own; the punishment, yours_  
_The harmony's silent today._

Celestia felt... something, as if the song captured her own self _'That song, could that be about...?'_

_But into the stillness I'll bring you a song_  
_And I will your company keep_  
_Till your tired eyes and my lullabies_  
_Have carried you softly to sleep_

Suddenly a white unicorn appeared by the side of the yellow pegasus, who continued singing where the pegasus, who looked in the verge of tears, left.

_Once did a pony who gleamed like the moon_  
_Look out on her kingdom and sigh_  
_Dejected she cried, "Surely there is no pony_  
_Who loves me, or finds any love in my night."_

Nightmare Moon's face betrayed her bewilderment, as if the song affected both alicorns equally.

_So great was her pain, she rose in rebellion_  
_Against those who cared for her most._  
_She let the Nightmare fall on those she ruled_  
_And threatened to grip them in permanent cold._

It was only then when the pegasus resumed singing, now in a duet. Somehow Celestia knew the words of this unknown song even before they were sung by the ponies.

_Lullaby dear princess, goodnight sister mine_  
_And rest now in moonlight's embrace_  
_Bear up my lullaby, winds of the earth_  
_Through cloud, and through sky, and through space_  
_Carry the peace and the coolness of night_  
_And carry my sorrow in kind_  
_Sister, you're loved so much more than you know_  
_Forgive me for being so blind_

The sky suddenly returned to its usual color, and Celestia realized there weren't just only other two ponies: they were six, including Twilight Sparkle! The ponies also started to move in a slow yet captivating choreography while their singing continued, the lyrics telling the simplest, yet truest, version Celestia had known of the long ago tragedy. The turning of her sister Luna into Nightmare Moon, and her banishment to the moon by Celestia's own hoof a millennia ago.

After the second verse and a section of music without lyrics finished Celestia couldn't hold it anymore: with tears she only now noticed flowing, she started singing in conjunction with Twilight Sparkle and the other ponies and - to her surprise - Nightmare Moon.

_The years now before us fearful and unknown_  
_I never imagined I'd face them on my own_  
_May these sunless seasons swiftly pass, I pray_  
_I love you; I miss you all these miles away_

At this point everypony except the alicorns had stopped singing, but Celestia hardly realized it. She had only eyes and voice for Nightmare Moon, who was still singing and crying to a song which touched both of their souls, none daring to move for fear breaking what seemed an illusion.

_May all your dreams be sweet tonight_  
_Safe upon that bed above the lights_  
_And know not of heartache, fear, nor, gloom_  
_And when I dream, I'll fly away to meet you soon_  
_Sleep, sleep, sleep..._

When the song ended Celestia felt expectant. Now what? After what appeared to be another thousand years Nightmare Moon closed her eyes and Celestia saw magic enveloping the darker alicorn. A moment later the magic vanished and it was Princess Luna who opened hers.

"Celestia," Luna said in a cracking voice, "we meet again."

Only then both alicorns dared to move, this time to reach each other's embrace.

* * *

Twilight Sparkle tried to contain her tears, and her excitement. At least the reunion of the Princesses helped with the latter – but not with the former. During the musical number not only was she "lightlessly" casting a Dimensional Barrier to distract the Princesses and the music spell for the song Fluttershy found, but also she was taking care on observing how the song affected the Princesses.

Fluttershy's plan was a complete success: using what she dubbed "heart-songs", the way ponies seemed to spontaneously inspire and create musicals, combined with a song specially tailored for the Princesses to dispel the corruption in Nightmare Moon. This time they didn't even need to use the Elements of Harmony or to become alicorns, and the best part of all: she had material for yet another Thesis!

Drying her tears she rounded up her friends and started to leave. "Princess Celestia, Princess Luna. Now we have to go to finish the preparations of the Summer Sun celebration in Ponyville. We'll wait for you there." Celestia could only answer with a nod.

* * *

AN:

Set ten.

Just to remind everyone, Loops do not have to take place in the order they're shown - far from it.

And the music from 10.10 is "Lullaby for a Princess", I am told.


	11. Chapter 11

11.1 (Stainless Steel Fox)

* * *

The three Crusaders eagerly awaited the arrival of 'Nightmare Moon'. Twilight had agreed to let them handle her appearance this loop. Luna wasn't awake, but that would be part of the fun.

Ah, here she was.

"Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious, little, sun-loving faces."

Rainbow Dash wasn't awake, and did her usual non-awake attack run on Nightmare Moon, and was as usual stopped by the unawakened Applejack. "What did you do to our princess?"

Nightmare Moon chuckled. "Why, am I not royal enough for you? Don't you know who I am?"

Before Pinkie could guess, Applebloom stepped forward, and called out, "You're Nightmare Moon! But you shouldn't be here for a couple of months yet!"

"I am gratified that at least some-pony remembers the legend, but I have returned on the longest day of the thousandth year, as prophesied."

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo stepped up beside Applebloom as she continued. "So… you're not here for Nightmare Night?"

The Nightmare looked honestly confused. "No, silly foal, I am here to bring the Night Eternal!"

"Whoa!" Applebloom exclaimed, "Isn't that a bit steep for not getting enough candy?"

"Candy? What is this 'Nightmare Night' you speakest of?"

The trio inwardly grinned. They'd seen Luna restored by talking before, and starting to speak ye olde butchered equestrian was one of the signs of her breaking through the Nightmare persona.

"It's a night where we dress up and collect candy to offer to you so you don't eat pony fillies and colts," Applebloom rattled off, with just a hint of nervousness.

Nightmare Moon actually looked disgusted. "Eat ponies? What calumnies hath my sister foisted on this world in my absence?"

"Told ya!" Scootaloo nudged Applebloom as they'd rehearsed.

Sweetie Belle added, "Well, nobody actually believes that bit, but it's a good scary story, and you're an awesome, scary pony!"

"Thou wantest to be scared?" Nightmare Moon was clearly all at sea… so they kept pushing out the boat.

"Oh yeah! Scary can be fun when it's all just a game! Nightmare Night is one of my favourite days of the year," Applebloom explained. "We get to dress up and stay up late and party all night, and get lots and lots of candy. And Nightmare Night wouldn't be Nightmare Night without Nightmare Moon."

The Nightmare turned to smoke and flew down to the three pony fillies, appearing right in front of them, a black aura and lightning crackling around her. "Doth thou still think me a figure of fun?"

"Whoo!" "Cool!" "Do it again!" The three fillies, rather than being intimidated, applauded her. A few other ponies started joining in, Pinkie chief among them.

The Nightmare was taken aback. "Thou art not terrified? Why doth no-pony get it? I am here to imprison my sister Princess Celestia, as she once imprisoned me in the moon, and bring eternal night! I know nothing of this Nightmare night you speak of!"

Sweetie Belle's lip quivered. "Does that mean Nightmare Night is cancelled?"

Applebloom asked, "Your sister? Why would any-pony do something like that? Especially a sister. My sister Applejack and I are the closest of friends. She'd never banish me to the moon for a thousand years, not even if i was really naughty. Well I guess she couldn't in the first place, not being an alicorn and all, but even if she could, she wouldn't."

Nightmare Moon huffed. "Very well, since it is clear no-pony understands how I was wronged, I shall have to explain. A thousand years ago, my sister and did work together as princesses of Equestria, she raising the sun and bringing the day, while I did raise the moon and brought the night as Princess Luna. But while ponies enjoyed my sister's day, they feared and shunned my beautiful night, sleeping through it. I ultimately resolved that I would make the night last forever, so they would have to appreciate it. But my sister managed to defeat me and locked me away in the moon for a thousand years."

"That was really mean!" Applebloom commented.

"It was the only way for ponies to see my night..."

"No, I mean ponies ignoring your night. Nights are cool too." Applebloom decided not to mention the whole 'diurnal biology' thing.

Scootaloo continued, getting excited. "Yeah, there are all kind of things you can do at night, like have sleepovers, or bonfires, or watch the stars... we even study them in school, and pegasi and ships use them to navigate by."

"Or have a long romantic stroll and snuggle up together under the moon..." Sweetie Belle sighed, eyes distant.

Nightmare Moon shook her head from side to side as if trying to dislodge a fly, her mane wavering in colour. "You no longer fear the night? But..."

Applebloom pressed on. "Of course, making it night forever was a bit of an over-reaction. I mean we need day too, to grow crops and stuff. Eternal night would mean every-pony would die of starvation, and then who'd appreciate your night?"

The Nightmare's mane turned darker, then lighter, so Sweetie Belle added, "But banishing you for a thousand years? That's kind of over-reacting too. My sister and I sometimes argue, but she's never given me a thousand year time out. But even though we argue sometimes, we're still sisters, and we still love each other. You should have been able to talk it through, work out some way that to get ponies to appreciate you more."

"Maybe they were just too mad at each other," Applebloom said, "Even Applejack and I get mad at one another sometimes, and we say and do things we don't really mean. I'm sure princess Celestia is sorry about what happened."

The three ponies put their heads together and whispered, then pulled some sacks from under the table. Applebloom said, "These were our special Summer Sun Celebration candy stashes, they took weeks to put together. If we give them to you, could you bring back Princess Celestia, and not do the whole eternal night thing, just talk with her and make up, maybe?"

Nightmare Moon looked incredulous and rose up on her hind hooves, mane flaring. "You're kidding, right? Thou doth have the temerity to bargain with an alicorn princess, and more so you do offer sweetmeats as your prize?"

Scootaloo started looking through the bags. "We don't have any temerity or sweetmeats, but we do have hard candy and chocolate and gummies and boiled sweets and even some cloud cupcakes..."

That utterly wrong footed her. She landed back on all fours, face scrunched up, and then bust out laughing. Not evil laughter, but a good honest belly laugh. The darkness in her mane flared and was blasted away, and her armour shattered. Her eyes turned from green and slitted to regular irises of a cyan blue, and after a few moments she recovered enough to speak.

Very well, young fillies, we have a bargain." She raised her head and her horn flashed. The sun rose, and from its centre came a ball of light, which landed by her and resolved itself into Princess Celestia.

Every-pony bowed. The elder alicorn blinked, looking around, and saw her sister standing in front of three fillies with a bag of sweets.

"Well, I… did not expect that…" Celestia said, trying to work out how that had just happened. "It seems I owe you three fillies a great debt of gratitude for freeing me and restoring my sister."

"Aw, it was nothing..." Applebloom blushed.

Sweetie Belle piped up. "Yes, we know how sometimes things get out of hoof between sisters."

"I don't..." Scootaloo sighed and looked meaningfully over at Rainbow Dash. "I wish I did..."

Princess Celestia gave all three of them a gentle smile. "My deepest thanks to all of you anyway. I wouldn't have considered it possible if I hadn't seen it myself."

"Indeed sister." Princess Luna added. She rubbed her forehead. "They bargained for your freedom with words of wisdom and bags of candy. Now I do consider the matter, bringing eternal night just so ponies could appreciate my night sky was possibly the most idiotic idea since Romane Numerals. In truth, I can not imagine what I was thinking!"

Princess Celestia teared up. "Oh Luna, it's been centuries since I've seen you like this. I would have done anything to spare you your exile, but there was a taint of darkness in you, something foreign, and it twisted you. Working alone, I could not use the full power of the Elements and free you from it, so I had to freeze you in the moon until I could find a way to separate you from it. I thought only the full power of the Elements of Harmony could do it, and using them the way i did even at lower power would ruin them for centuries, so I gave myself a millenium to find an answer and for the Elements to recover. If I had known the answer was so simple..."

She moved in and hugged the startled Luna. "I have been so lonely these past thousand years! We were meant to rule together little sister. Will you accept my apology, and my friendship?"

Luna hesitated for a moment, then returned the hug. "Only if you will accept mine."

Many joyful tears were shed, then Pinkie Pie exclaimed, "This calls for a party!"

The three fillies gave each other a big grin and high hooved. "Cutie Mark Crusader Diarchy Restorers! Yeah!"

* * *

11.2

* * *

"Your majesty?"

Mufasa, ruler of the Pride Lands, turned. "What is it, Twilight?"

The shaman (well, this Loop anyway) spread her hooves. "I do not have anything definite, but I suspect that your brother may be planning something."

"Scar?" Mufasa frowned. "Why do you suspect that?"

"A number of reasons, some of them too arcane to be understood." _Well, yeah,_ Twilight thought, _as in, I've watched the film._ "But I think there are things that could be done to mitigate what might happen."

The lion began pacing down the side of Pride Rock, following his zebra shaman. (Twilight had been intrigued to discover that the Loop had made her into a horned zebra, and that her cutie mark was more… tribal in design, for some reason.) "What do you suggest? I strike first?"

"No." Twilight shook her head emphatically. "I suggest that you begin a phased plan of increasing the opportunities available to hyena."

"…pardon?"

"The lions, aside from Scar, are content with your rule. Most other predators on the plains are too small to pose a threat. It seems that the most likely source of power for any coup – not just one from Scar, if such is possible, but any – is the hyena, since they're angry." Twilight took some powder from a pouch – that Loop she'd spent learning from Zecora was coming in _very _useful – and cast it into the air.

She manipulated the bound spell in the powder to show what she wanted it to show. Shanzi, Banzai and Ed, prowling through the Elephant Graveyard.

"See, my liege?" she said, pointing. "They are gaunt with hunger – not starving, certainly, but nor are they able to eat their fill."

"This bears consideration." Mufasa frowned. "Thank you, my shaman. Continue your work."

It was as good as a dismissal.

* * *

"You know, there's only one thing I wanna know," a boar said, pausing in his meal.

"What's that?" his companion asked.

"Why are you a meerkat?"

Angel frowned. "Why not?"

Spike shrugged. "I dunno. Just seemed like you'd be... well, something more rabbity. And how come you're Looping anyway?"

Angel copied the shrug. "Like I care. Pity Fluttershy isn't around, though."

* * *

"So, what you're saying is…" Shanzi paced, her two packmates circling further out, "…that if we do what Mufasa says, he'll let us have his scraps?"

"Rather more than scraps," Twilight replied. "Anyway, why are you following Scar? Doesn't he offer basically the same thing but with more effort?"

She blinked. "For that matter, aren't you matriarchal?"

"Eh." Banzai padded closer. "She doesn't tell me what to-awp!"

Shanzi lowered her paw from the cuff that had sent him sprawling. "_Yes. I. Do._ Anyway, it is an interesting offer, but there's one problem."

"And that is?" Twilight asked politely.

"We could just eat _you_, right _now._" Shanzi nodded sharply, and Ed leapt at Twilight from behind.

There was a _pop_, and he landed on Shanzi's face.

"Argh! Gerrof, idiot! I said _gerrof_, I'm not a zebra, oow!"

"I'll speak to you later," Twilight told Banzai (the only one currently listening) and vanished in a magical flare.

* * *

11.3

* * *

"Right, here we go!" Applebloom said. "You ready, Scoots?"

Scootaloo nodded from the cockpit of a credible imitation of a Sopwith Camel. "Ready!"

"Okay!" Applebloom bucked the propeller, and the engine sputtered once or twice before catching and starting to run properly.

Scootaloo waited a moment, then nodded again. "Looks good."

Applebloom ran back to the left wheel, took a string attached to the left chock in her mouth and hurried over to the outer edge of the lower left wing. Once there, she fitted herself under it. "Mfree, Twmmf, Mmne…"

Sweetie pulled the right chock out at the same time Applebloom pulled on the string attached to the left one. They both started running forwards, holding up the wings as the biplane got moving. Once it was faster than they could run, they slowed down and watched.

The biplane bumped over the ground, accelerating, and began to jounce as it hit slight irregularities in the field. Once, twice… then it didn't come down again.

"Woo!" Applebloom shouted, jumping up and down, as the _Crusader I_ climbed steadily into the air. Once it was a couple of hundred yards up, it banked slightly and began to circle as Scootaloo carefully gained height.

"Well, it worked," Sweetie said, watching with a grin on her face. "What next?"

"Next, ah think we try for an improved version that don't need two sets of wings." Applebloom frowned, already thinking of other ways to make the _Crusader II_ better. "Or we could try makin' the wings outta wood, instead of bein' fabric."

"Sounds like a good idea." Sweetie nodded. "I know Rarity is going to be amazed when she sees what we did with her waste bolts of cloth, though."

The airplane overhead waggled its wings, then dove gently. They could hear Scootaloo's voice, faint over the engine.

"This is _so cool!_ I…"

Applebloom didn't catch the next bit. "What did she say, Sweets?"

Sweetie Belle lit her horn. "Sec… rewind… oh."

"What?"

"That's what she said." Sweetie deadpanned. "She said 'oh.'"

The buzzing drone of the engine above cut out.

"Ah, horsefeathers…" Applebloom muttered. "Must be the carburettor."

A large parasail opened overhead as Scootaloo bailed out. The _Crusader I_ kept going without her in a gradually steepening dive, which ended as it hit the nearby lake with a huge splash.

Sweetie slowed Scootaloo's landing with telekinesis, and the pegasus stomped over to Applebloom.

"I've got some issues with the design." Scootaloo shook her hooves, which seemed to be wet. "The engine leaks."

Applebloom bent down and sniffed. "…yeah, that's fuel alright. Guess a combustion engine wasn't a good idea."

"You're telling me?" Scootaloo pointed to the plume of smoke. "The fuel leaked into the cockpit, and then the engine cut out! That was _not_ fun!"

Sweetie looked smug.

"Alright, alright, you win Sweets." Applebloom kicked the ground. "We'll build a crystal engine for the second one. Now, er… how do we explain this to Steven Magnet? I think the _Crusader I_ hit his summer home."

"We have a _long_ way to go before we can build a Mareitech…" Scootaloo shook her head.

* * *

11.4

* * *

"…okay," Fluttershy said timidly. "I know I can become an alicorn now, but… I don't really feel up to this…"

Twilight finished establishing her stability bubble, pushing back the chaos of Discord-controlled Equestria with a variant failsafe spell. "Well, it seems to happen every time somepony ascends. Well, except me… I did have a Loop where I replaced Luna, but that wasn't straight after my ascension… anyway. We have to deal with Discord."

"Okay." Fluttershy's face set. "I can handle this, Twilight."

"Good." Twilight tapped a hoof. "I get Magic, you get Kindness… which two other Elements do you feel up to?"

"No, _I_ can handle this." Fluttershy flew off.

"…huh." Twilight said. "That's unusually bold for Fluttershy."

* * *

"…so, anyway, the point _is_, I just don't see the upside of harmony for me." Discord lay back on the couch he'd conjured. "I mean, I'm a being of chaos and disharmony. Harmony is sort of opposite of me."

"Perhaps you just haven't had the right examples," Fluttershy replied. "I mean, take as an example what happened with the Windigoes. Alone, the three tribes were completely unable to resist their effects – but together, they were much more powerful. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, you see…"

"Fair point," Discord allowed. "What do you suggest _I_ would enjoy, then?"

"Well, my –sister," Fluttershy said, remembering just in time what was going on this Loop, "is quite an expert with magic. I'm sure she'd love to work with you. And I can tell that you're quite a fun draconequus to be around – if you can resist turning ponies into things they'd rather not be, at any rate."

"A difficult challenge," Discord said airily. "I'd much rather do a bit of… discordianism." He snapped his fingers, and tapped Fluttershy on the forehead just below her horn. "Let's see what you think now!"

Fluttershy blinked, and frowned. There was a burst of magic which bowled Discord over.

"_You have been a very naughty boy!_"

"…this feels like Karma," Discord said. "I don't like it."

* * *

"…I said I was sorry," Discord muttered.

Next to him, Fluttershy's wings twitched. She could have been shrugging slightly – it was hard to tell.

"Though I _am_ impressed with your sister," the draconequus continued. "I mean, she tried working with you instead of against you for nearly a year after you kicked me up here." He pointed to the crater he'd left when he hit the moon. "Nice shot, by the way. Anyway, what finally got too much for her?"

"…wolves."

"Pardon?" Discord bent down.

"I set Canis Major on the castle!" Fluttershy shouted. Discord went flying backwards from the sheer force.

"I don't know what you did to me," Fluttershy continued, shaking her head. "I keep getting _angry_ so easily, and for no reason! I… I thought she wasn't putting enough effort into zoological funding, and so I decided to use my part of the gardens to take care of a few animals, and by the time I'd finished putting all the rest of them in there it filled the Everfree forest, and I didn't have anywhere to put the Canis Major, so… I got them to invade Twilight's part of the castle, to show her why she should respect our little friends." By this point, Fluttershy was hiding herself almost entirely inside her wings. Only her horn and eyes were poking out.

Discord whistled. "That's actually quite impressive."

The two divine entities sat awkwardly for a bit.

"…can you make a sauna?" Fluttershy asked tentatively.

"That sounds like a good idea," Discord replied. "Water, grape juice, or key lime pie?"

"Water, please." Fluttershy paused. "Can it be lemon scented?"

"I can make it fizzy, too!" Discord replied with a grin.

* * *

"Stupid things!" Twilight said, barely restraining the urge to kick the Element of Loyalty. "I wanted to undo whatever Discord did to destabilize her moods, not send her up there for a thousand years!"

She sighed. "Oh, well. Looks like it's going to be waiting until our friends turn up again…"

* * *

"You want me to organize a welcome home party?" Pinkie Pie, special student of (a _very_ tired) Princess Twilight asked with glee.

"Yes, Pinkie." Twilight massaged her temples with her forehooves. "There are two deities up on the moon who are going to be coming back down in a month or so. Neither of them is actually evil, or nasty, they were just… put in time out. I'd like you to make it clear to them that they're welcome in Equestria."

"Okay!" Pinkie said, bouncing. "Who are they?"

"One of them is Discord." Twilight paused. "Just design a party for yourself, for him, only more so. The other one is my sister, Princess Fluttershy. She's very sweet, and likes things subdued… but she does have a bit of a temper, so make sure things are done well."

"Okie Dokie!" Pinkie bounced off.

Twilight let out a heartfelt sigh of relief. Pinkie Pie was a true friend, but not to be taken in extended doses.

* * *

"Okay, Spike!" Pinkie said. "How's things going on the Discord side?"

"Well, we've got all the local ponies who are into intensive partying lined up." Spike turned a page on the clipboard. "One 'Rainbow Dash' has said she'll do her speciality piece to open the disco, and there's a DJ who's going to keep it going." The young dragon frowned at the paper. "DJ Lunacy? Whatever. Anyway, that was the last thing left to handle."

"They sound fun!" Pinkie nodded to herself. "I'll go see them in a moment! What about the other side?"

"One Octavia is going to do the music for that one. All classical, nothing too startling. There's also a pegasus dance troupe who've volunteered to help… Cirque du Celestia? Sounds interesting. They're supposed to be very good. Anyway, a very nice – very, very nice – unicorn called Rarity is helping to outfit everypony for that, all in period dresses and suits to add a touch of the familiar for her." Spike looked a bit distracted by the subject of said unicorn, but rallied quite well. "And the catering's lined up too."

"Good!" Pinkie said. "Now to let Princess Twilight know! Get that flame ready, Spike!"

* * *

"…huh." Twilight muttered, reading the letter. "Luna's a _DJ_ this time? I have to admit, given nightclubs, it makes a certain amount of sense…"

* * *

"It started well!" Pinkie said brightly, looking over the smoking ruins of Ponyville.

"I believe you," Princess Twilight replied. "I was there. But I didn't see where it went _wrong._"

"Oh." Pinkie thought. "I think it was about when Luna overloaded the spell that was maintaining a sound barrier between the two parties, deafened everypony at the soiree, and startled Princess Fluttershy."

"Okay." Twilight spread her wings. "I'll go look for my sister, she's probably in the Everfree somewhere. You try and find Discord."

* * *

"Don't worry, Fluttershy," Twilight said. "Nopony actually got hurt."

"I just feel like I keep breaking things!" Fluttershy wailed. "I'm not cut out for being an alicorn!"

"No, you're doing better than almost anypony else has…" Twilight said critically, thinking back on 'Danger Dash'. "You coped with the moon very well. Besides, it seems like being an alicorn actually makes emotional extremes stronger. You weren't ready for it – that's all."

She stretched out a wing, and laid it over Fluttershy's back. "Come on. Besides, Luna and Dash both had their episodes last a thousand years. Yours tend to be a lot shorter." Twilight pondered for a moment, trying to think of something to say.

"…I found Angel Bunny."

Fluttershy's eye peeked out of her wings. "You did?"

"Yep. He actually runs the griffin empire, for some reason. Strangest trade agreement signing I've done yet." Twilight considered that statement. "Well, apart from the one from last Loop, where we agreed to trade love to the Changelings. Actually, speaking of them, I normalized relations five hundred years ago. Want to see if Chrysalis can help you with that emotions problem? There's a state visit next month."

"…alright, then," Fluttershy whispered.

* * *

11.5

* * *

"THE NIGHT WILL LAST FOREVER!" Nightmare Moon shouted, glorying in her own return.

"Really?" A suspiciously familiar voice asked. "Hel_lo?_ _So_ consistent."

"Discord?"

"How did you _know_, lulu?" Discord raised an empty glass, then quaffed the air in it. Mead flowed in from nowhere to fill it up from the top, and when he finished the glass was completely full with liquid that didn't spill. Picking up an empty bottle on the table, he 'emptied' his glass from it. "But I don't like the idea of the night lasting _forever_. I mean, it'd get boring inside three minutes."

"Night and day are irrelevant!" The mayor shimmered, and turned into a large, insectoid creature. "Changelings! Sieze them!"

Almost every other pony in the room also dropped shapeshifts.

"We cannot allow them to jeapordize our infiltration!" Chrysalis said.

There was a knocking on the door. All three divine entities paused, looking towards it.

After almost a full twenty seconds of staring, Discord sighed and snapped his fingers. The door opened.

A large, armoured unicorn stepped through. **"Crystals?"**

* * *

"Ooooh…" several dozen ponies said, watching the fountain of magical backlash as four immensely powerful beings battled hammer-and-tongs.

"Aaaaah…"

A Changeling went soaring into the air, clinging grimly to a large firework labelled 'Komodo 3000.'

"Hey, Pinkie…" Twilight began slowly. "Is that the one that-"

"Duck and cover!" Pinkie overrode her, diving to the ground.

There was an enormously bright flash, and night became day for about five seconds.

"I told you not to store that in the town hall!" Twilight said, once the firework had finally burnt out. "Actually, I told you to store it in your pocket dimension inside a water-jacketed box."

"Eh." Pinkie shrugged. "I wanted to see what Dissy would do with it!"

A smouldering changeling landed next to them, stumbled upright and promptly collapsed again. "I can't see!"

"Don't worry," Twilight replied. "The box said your eyesight comes back in two days."

"Are you _sure_ this will solve all our problems, Twilight?" Princess Celestia asked, looking dubious.

"Oh, yeah," Twilight reassured her. "I mean, once they're all tired enough we could probably actually talk them through things."

She winced as a bolt of pure night removed the top half of her library. "Granted, that could take a while…"

* * *

Discord panted on the floor, utterly exhausted. There were three hundred changelings surrounding him, covered with various flavours of pie or jam, and one duct-taped expertly to the remains of the wall behind him.

Chrysalis wasn't much better. She was still standing, but visibly supporting herself with a table.

Sombra had discovered that the goblets in the room were made with crystal glass and was busily trying to chew his way through some, mainly to get up the energy to move.

And Nightmare Moon still had a spell sizzling on the end of her horn. Granted, it was a low grade stun spell, but it was more than the others could manage. "Hah! You, you… fools, you… foals, couldn't defeat the true might of… Equestria's true ruler. Who's the winner now?"

Celestia stepped through a hole in the wall. "Me, actually."

Discord rolled his eyes. Chrysalis finally collapsed to the floor, her last two conscious changelings standing guard over her. Nightmare Moon's spell fizzled out, and she wobbled on her hooves.

Sombra started snoring. **"Cryyyys… taaaaals…"**

"Right." Celestia decided to ignore him for now. "Anyway. Who wants some tea?"

* * *

"This is stupid…" Chrysalis muttered, finishing off the paperwork and passing it to Princess Cadence.

"Oh, sorry…" Cadence replied, after checking the date. "I'm afraid that Sombra has booked that month to attempt a hostile takeover of Equestria. You'll have to reschedule."

"What?" Chrysalis stamped on the floor. "That's not fair! You've only _got_ one wedding!"

"Sorry." Cadence shrugged. "At least it's better than another double booking, right?"

"I suppose…"

* * *

11.6 (Mandemon)

* * *

"3... 2... 1... Get ready..." Twilight said, as the moment of Nightmare Moon's return came closer. Her latest plan to speed up the whole collecting Elements of Harmony had worked well. Too bad the others weren't Awake in this loop.

Right on time, Nightmare Moon appeared on the stage.

Wearing a top hat and wearing a monocle.

"I say, this is the most joyous time indeed! For I have returned from my enforced leave of this word, as decreed by my sister!" the dark alicorn said, in an affected accent.

"What," Twilight said, echoing the feelings of everyone else.

"Gotcha! How's it going, Twilight?" Luna said, shifting away from her Nightmare Moon appearance and dropping her disguise.

"..." Twilight had the sinking feeling that she'd just been punk'd.

"Oh, come on! Don't look at me like that. You pulled all kinds of tricks on me in numerous loops, for once it's my turn," Luna said with a smile. "Now, how shall we trick my sister? I assume she is not Awake, seeing how your friends there are very confused."

Twilight pondered. "Hmmm… Pinkie, do you have a clown wig available?"

"Of course!" Pinkie reached behind a bush… no, on second glance she picked up the bush, and pulled a cord to turn it from green to rainbow coloured. "I have them all around Ponyville!"

Luna developed a grin. "I like where this is going."

"Can somepony explain what's goin' on?" Applejack asked.

* * *

11.7 (Stainless Steel Fox)

* * *

"Sweetie Belle? Where are Scootaloo and Applebloom? And where is your project for the Science fair?" Cheerilee looked around, in case she'd missed two fillies and a project.

"They're bringing it here right now, Miss Cherrilee. We did ask if we could do a combined project and you did agree." Sweetie gave a nice smile.

"Yes, I did, but I expect something that reflects a high level of effort from all three of you." The teacher frowned; it would be a hard one to mark, in truth, but they worked so much better together she didn't have the heart to say no.

"Ha!" As usual, Diamond Tiara cut in. "I bet those three blank flanks produced a big fat nothing, just like the cutie-marks they don't have! My daddy brought me the finest model airship kit money could buy!"

"Oh really, Diamond Tiara? I thought you said you built it yourself." Sweetie looked sly for a moment.

"I did, I built it all myself! I even read the explanation of how it works…" Diamond tailed off, realizing she'd just be digging herself a hole if she kept going, and changed tack. "At least I have a project; Sweetie Belle doesn't even have a paper airplane!"

"Not a paper one, no..." Sweetie Belle heard the howl of jet engines and grinned.

A shadow fell across the school yard as a winged shape swept over it on jets of flame.

"Ahh! It's a dragon!"

"Hide!"

"Call for help!"

The blocky, angular shape of a Mareitech space fighter did a vertical landing in the field beside the school, and the whine of its engines died down. It was painted white with burgundy trim and tail fins, on which was emblazoned the blue and white Cutie-mark Crusaders logo. The twin canopy lifted up, revealing Scootaloo in the front seat and Applebloom sitting behind her and to the side. There was an empty space beside the earth-pony filly.

"What is it?" Cheerilee finally stuttered.

"It's our flying machine, the Cutie Mark Crusader Mark VIII. Applebloom did the primary design and engineering, Scootaloo developed the flight control systems and aerodynamics, and I worked on the thaumic power core and avionics, though I did get Twilight Sparkle to help me with the power core design. But that's allowed; you did say we should get an adult pony to help us if we were doing anything dangerous." Sweetie looked earnest. "That's okay, right?"

The three of them had been hiding their looped abilities until now, specifically for the fun of the reveal, but now she could show off a bit. Her horn glowed and she started showing a slide show of illusion images showing the design and construction of the CMC8 in the workshop/hangar they'd created under the tree-house.

* * *

11.3 additional (Madfish)

* * *

The Crusaders' attention was drawn from the pyre of their first biplane by a small herd of four unfamiliar ponies racing in their direction.

None of them were much out of colthood from their looks, and one shouting, "I say, are you three alright?" revealed at least one of them had a strong and unusual accent.

"We're fine. We remembered to make parachutes… this time." Applebloom blushed.

Sweetie winced, remembering what had happened when they'd tried making their own balloon. It had taken a very alert Rainbow Dash to catch them when the thing caught fire…

"Well, jolly good, I suppose…" the speaker was a sightly overweight pale green pegasus. Having said his piece, he trailed off in confusion.

Scootaloo broke the silence by asking, "So who are you anyway?"

"Oh. Yes, how rude of us," clearly now they had ascertained that the fillies were safe the pegasus had other things on his mind. Refocusing, he started introductions, "I am Algae- Algy, my friend here I think is Jams," he wiped a frustrated hoof across his brow as he nodded to the other pegasus with him, a tan stallion with his mane tucked into a flight cap. "Sorry- James," clearly wanting to finish he sped up, "Smyth and Ginger," he finished with a gesture to a grey earthpony with black mane and mustache, and an appropriately coloured unicorn who was clearly the youngest there.

With some concern Sweetie asked, "Are you feeling all right?"

Chuckling the tan pegasus added, "Just a bit under the weather. I don't think any of us have ridden the dragon quite as hard as this before. I don't even remember getting the cig…"

"You were riding a dragon? That's kind of cool, most ponies just run scared of them," Scootaloo said. "So… you're Loopers, right?"

Blank looks.

"You know, repeating the same things over and over?" Applebloom tried, wondering what a _cig_ was.

More blank looks.

"Your _first_ loop and it's a Crossed Loop? How's that even work?" Sweetie gestured in the air, trying to show how strange that was.

"We can't even get Twilight to explain this stuff to them… she's gone to set something up for Sombra and we're the only other ones Awake," Scootaloo sighed.

James blinked, "I think it would be best if we saw a doctor. I don't think we're hearing what you're actually saying."

* * *

11.8 (Stainless Steel Fox)

* * *

"Are you okay?" Applebloom still found it hard to see the lack of recognition in her best friends' eyes. This was the hardest part about looping, everything you'd done and seen with your friends just… wiped away.

At least she knew, thanks to Twilight in their first – and joint – Loop, that there _was_ a Looping Sweetie out there, and a Looping Scootaloo. Fillies who remembered trying to beat up Chrysalis, and accidentally causing a major invasion of Equestria…

Still, these were versions of her friends too. She owed it to them to give them the best time she could.

Sweetie Belle shivered slightly, but looked over gratefully at the earth pony. "I think so, but she was really scary!"

"Aw... Rainbow Dash could have taken her!" The pegasus on the other side of the unicorn exclaimed.

Applebloom grinned, having seen the previous loop where Dash had gone full alicorn and done exactly that. "I'm sure she could. My sister just wanted to make sure she didn't take her on before any-pony else was ready to help."

That had to be done carefully. Implying Dash _couldn't_, or calling her reckless, was an easy way to make Scootaloo hostile.

"That was your sister?" Scootaloo asked.

"Yep! Mah sister Applejack, and I'm Applebloom. Pleased to meetcha."

"Scootaloo... and I wish Rainbow Dash was my sister."

The unicorn had moved back slightly, looking down, but Applebloom quickly turned her attention to her. "How about you? We've shared the underneath-of-a-table-hiding from the real life Nightmare Moon. Am I ever going to up my offering on Nightmare Night!" That got a chuckle. "But that makes us 'hiding under a table' buddies. We should know each others names, at least."

"Sweetie Belle." She looked more confident. "And Rarity is my sister, the white unicorn with the three diamond cutie-mark. Ooh! That Nightmare Moon isn't getting any of _my_ candy, not after the way she treated Rarity!"

Applebloom hauled herself from under the table, very deliberately trying to hide her flank with a fold of cloth. "Well if she tries to eat you, I'll help stop her! I know kung fu! She'll have trouble eating any-pony with no teeth!"

"I can help too!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "I'll run rings around her!"

"You can fly that fast?" Applebloom felt a rush of warmth, as Sweetie started engaging in the conversation again and it began to move from 'her talking to the others' to 'all three of them talking together'.

Scootaloo slumped. "I can't fly, not yet, but I'm the fastest on a scooter in all of Ponyville. And I will fly one day, just as awesomely as Rainbow Dash!"

"Don't doubt it." Applebloom finally let the cloth slip, making it look like an accident as she helped the other two out from under the table. She glanced back and then hung her head. "No! It's okay, you don't have to hang around with a blank-flank if you don't want to. In class, it's only Twist and me."

"You got a problem with blank-flanks?" Scootaloo sounded half annoyed, half amused. She presented her own bare flank. "I thought I was the only one."

"Oh! I thought I was!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "Let's be friends!"

Applebloom still teared up slightly at that. "I'd like that."

"Yeah, that'd be great!" Scootaloo bounced, fluttering her wings to get some hang time. "The three of us are totally alike! No cutie-marks, lots of awesome..."

"Maybe we can do something about that, the first thing I mean." Applebloom suggested. Without the common cause of cutie-mark hunting, their friendship grew more slowly and she wanted every moment before it was snatched away. Despite the fact that she'd pretty much given up, she still held out hope she could help her friends. "We could work together to find out who we are and what we're supposed to be."

"Oh oh! I know, we could form our own secret society!"

"I'm liking this idea!"

"How about we call ourselves, the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"

Applebloom grinned with the others, feeling at home again, but part of her was still wistful. Well, maybe this time it would be different. After all, these loops were endless, maybe in eternity even she'd be able to find her cutie-mark.

* * *

11.9 (Stainless Steel Fox)

* * *

Calling out the Cutie

* * *

Applebloom had experienced about a dozen loops by now, and was fed up. Neither Sweetie Belle nor Scootaloo was looping with any regularity yet, and while she had loopers like her sister and Twilight Sparkle to help, having to make friends with her cutie mark compadres over and over again was frustrating. But worst of all was having to deal with the ever increasing nastiness of Diamond Tiara, over and over again. It wasn't that it hurt so much any more, after you'd been called Blank Flank enough times, you developed scar tissue over your sense of self esteem.

No, it was just annoying, and dull. It wasn't even as if the two stooges were particularly inventive. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were so shallow, you could use them as a ford. They delighted in making ponies' lives miserable, though Applebloom was ashamed to admit that she hadn't really noticed until she'd become one of their primary targets. The endless stream of 'blank flank' and 'loser' comments was more like Neighponese water torture. Well, it was time to do something about that, for this loop at least.

This was the critical point. Cheerilee followed the script for her lesson on cutie-marks to the letter, and when Diamond Tiara hissed to her and tried to get her to take the blank note, she went along with it. As per usual Cheerilee didn't notice anything when the evil minded brat started messing around, but as soon as the note was in Applebloom's hooves, she homed in on the earth pony like a stooping hawk.

Applebloom had considered replacing the blank paper with a vicious note from Diamond Tiara to Applebloom, written in disappearing reappearing ink so it would make sense when she jumped up and made her smart remark about Applebloom's blank flank being like the blank paper. She'd even found a discarded report by the other pony and practised her hoof-writing style to add authenticity, but ultimately she'd decided that was the sort of thing Diamond Tiara would do, and she wasn't going to let the mean spirited brat turn her into something similar.

No, this was better. She'd fight the bully honestly and directly, not by sneaky tricks. The whole thing with Babs Seed had taught her that sometimes the only way to deal with bullying was openly, not by becoming what you hated, much as you'd get some temporary pleasure out of turning the tables. She'd also have a chance to talk about something that she'd been thinking about more and more as loop after loop had ended as it started, without a cutie-mark.

She'd talked it over with Twilight Sparkle and Zecora, as well as her big sister. They'd helped her to get her thoughts in order, and prepare for this. Two of them were loopers with literally millennia of experience, as well as being the smartest and most sensible ponies she knew, and while Zecora wasn't a looper, she had a vast reserve of wisdom.

Cheerilee took the note, as usual. "What could be so important that it couldn't wait until after class? It's blank!"

"Remind you of any-pony?" As usual Diamond 'witted' Tiara made her snarky remark and got the entire class laughing at her oh so hysterical comment. She must have spent hours coming up with that one.

_Time to change the script_, the farm pony thought. Applebloom let the laughter die down a bit, then asked; "Miss Cheerilee? Do you believe Diamond Tiara is right?"

The teacher looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, apart from the fact that you let her just stand up and make what was clearly meant to be an insult about blank flanks in general and me in particular, you've been saying how wonderful it is to get your cutie mark. So that it means if you don't yet have your cutie mark, you're an object to be pitied at best and ridiculed and laughed at at worst, at least that's the way Diamond Tiara reckons it…"

That cut off any remaining laughter like a knife.

"Of course not! Just because you haven't found what makes you special, doesn't mean you aren't. As I said before, your cutie-mark comes in its own time." Cheerilee seemed genuinely shocked, and Applebloom gave a relieved grin. However, there was still another point to be made.

"I'm right glad to hear that, but it still leaves a problem. You tried to make me feel better by talking about me finding a cutie-mark talent, which is kind of saying that it's your cutie-mark based talent that makes you special. Is that the only way a pony can feel worthwhile?"

She sighed. "Take me for example. Yes, I've never found that one talent I'm really good at, but that doesn't mean I don't have useful skills. I can do lots of different things, I can cook up to the level of a short order chef, balance a ledger, and not just on top of my head, clean a house, field repair a plough or a cart or build one given the tools and materials, then pull it fully loaded over 2 miles of rough ground in 15 minutes – and that takes more than strength and endurance, you have to be able to pick your route or you'll end up axle deep in the ground – care for and feed most domestic and farm animals, herd many of them, change a baby, sew a dress, change a wound dressing, care for most minor ailments and trauma injuries up to setting a bone or sewing up a wound, speak Zebra – though I'll admit I'm only conversation level, not fully fluent – make a speech," she grinned, "identify dozens of common and uncommon herbs and magical plants, brew 32 different herbal medicines and 3 actual magical potions, have a brown belt in Northern Shire-lin Karate and will test for my black next month, navigate the Everfree, abseil, free dive, find my way by the stars, and name a good chunk of the constellations."

She took a deep breath. "… and that's all I can think of at the moment. But if one of them is my particular talent, my flank hasn't gotten the message, so by cutie-mark based thinking, I'm second rate, to be told, not to worry, 'your cutie-mark will appear in time'. I'm not saying you're doing it to be nasty, Miss Cheerilee, I'm just trying to show that your cutie-mark and your cutie-mark talent might not the only way of judging a pony's worth."

She'd started connecting with Zecora and Temple Fortress, her martial arts sensei, from the moment she awoke each loop, and done her best to start off from where she'd left the previous loop each time. While she still worked with the other Crusaders, trying out many things, she'd found skills she'd liked, and done her best to learn them the long way round. Add to that some of Twilight's training on how to organise the memories of many loops so they didn't drive you insane, and she'd become a lot better at retaining knowledge.

It wasn't perfect, the muscle memories didn't carry over from loop to loop, but even there the effort to get them back was purely re-training, as if she'd slacked off her training for a few months and had to get back into shape. She'd had subjective decades to train, so she was a lot better than she admitted. Plus she'd had those same decades to learn all the skills that ran a farm, of which there were a lot. Helping Fluttershy, Rarity and Twilight out out, and learning what they could teach in return, had added to her broad base of skills and knowledge.

Of course, Diamond Tiara couldn't let her litany pass. "Ha! As if you could really do all those things! Where would you even find out about Zebras, or learn how to make magic potions? Only unicorns can do alchemy!"

"Some potions don't need a unicorn to enchant them. If you use innately magical ingredients any-pony can create one. And I was taught by Zecora. She's the zebra that lives in the Everfree forest."

That got shocked gasps and a few small screams. "But she's a monster." "Evil witch!"

Even Miss Cheeerilee looked horrified. Applebloom rounded on her classmates.

"She's not some kind of monster just because she lives in the Everfree! She's really cool, a shaman, a healer and student of magic and herbalism. She came all the way from her homeland to the Everfree because it has so many unique magical plants and herbs and she wanted to study them. Can you imagine the courage that took, to leave everything – everyone – she ever knew?

"It doesn't help that the inhabitants of the only nearby town have only avoided driving her away or worse because they're too scared of what she'd do to them if they tried. I guess us colts and fillies could be forgiven, after all, we just believe what our parents tell us." She turned to face Cheerilee. "But I'd have thought at least you'd… I don't know, be willing to find out the truth. That's what you've always taught us, to learn and understand, find out for ourselves."

"Sure, right!" Diamond Tiara sneered. "It's convenient that you're claiming to be taught by someone who no-one wants to go near, so no-body can ask her! As for you, how would you get to even talk to her without being turned into a toad? Though that might be an improvement!"

""Uh… hello? Sweet Apple Acres is next to the Everfree Forest. We check the boundaries regularly to see nothing freaky comes out. Zecora was collecting some herbs near the boundary, and she didn't seem to be turning any-pony into anything, any more than she does anything bad when she comes in to town. So I screwed up my courage and talked to her. She was really nice, and explained what she was doing, and…"

Applebloom shrugged. "We got to be friends. I could go on about how Applejack and Twilight Sparkle got involved, and how they eventually trusted her to see me safely to her place, and how she eventually let me start learning from her. Zebra magic is closest to earth pony magic, but they can do things with it Equestrian ponies never thought of.

"Our earth magic is focussed inwards, such as our magic strength and toughness, or passive like our connection with growing things. But they can project it like unicorn magic. It can't do all the flashy spells unicorns can, but it can affect living and natural things. Some of Zecora's brew are just non-magical herbs, some use magical ingredients, and some are use the magical herbs as a base to invest some of their own earth magic. You can get some really powerful healing and enhancement effects that way."

"Oh, and I suppose you can do all that!" Diamond Tiara sniffed.

Applebloom gave an amused snort. "I already said I only know three real potions, and they're all purely based on magical ingredients. I'm gonna need a lot more training before I can project earth magic like a zebra. Though I'm hoping my martial arts will help. Northern Shire-lin is based on drawing on the magic of the earth actively to enhance your attacks and toughness beyond what passive earth pony magic can do. If I can learn to draw on it, I should be able to learn to project it. Once again, it's going to take a lot more practice and hard work, but it'll be worth it."

"I still think you're lying just to be the centre of attention!" Actually, that _was_ probably a fairly sensible thing to assume. The list of skills she'd rattled off _had_ taken decades to pick up… but it was also wrong, and she wasn't going to let the accusation stand.

"Ask Twilight Sparkle or my big sis." Applebloom gave a small smirk. "As for the rest of my skills… try me!"

Then she turned to Miss Cheerilee. "Sorry about going off like that, but I've been thinking about this stuff for a long time, and hearing her act like that just set it off. I've worked hard for my skills, tried a lot of different things to see if they were my cutie-mark talent, then decided to continue them and learn them anyway."

This was absolutely true, she was only omitting that she'd done so over a dozen or so time-loops.

"I'm proud of what I've achieved, and hearing it dismissed simply because I don't have a, a… sticker, got me riled up. Which reminds me, we all know her cutie-mark is that diamond tiara she's so proud of, but I don't remember hearing what her actual talent is… Oh, and I've helped Applejack nurture and hoof pollinate plenty of apple tree seedlings, and my flanks still bare, so despite my name, my talent is not making apples bloom. So what about it, Diamond Tiara? This is a lesson about cutie-marks. What does yours mean?"

"I don't have to answer you!" Diamond Tiara exclaimed defensively.

"Nope, you don't. I just figured since your so all fired proud of that cutie-mark, your talent must be awesome. Strange you don't want anyone to know it; I'd have reckoned you'd shout it from the highest rooftops. I'm still looking for mine, despite what I said, and me and my friends are going to have fun doing it too." She finished her little speech with a broad grin; it was true, too. _Next up, surfing!_

Diamond Tiara's face was furious, and Applebloom knew she'd won. This round, at least. She'd already made friends with the other Crusaders, so going to that cute-ceanera wasn't necessary, and having put Diamond Tiara in her place she intended to ignore her, possibly the worst possible thing she could do to an attention seeker like the pink earth pony.

Since Applebloom wasn't going to steal the Heart's Desire plant this time, there'd be no cutie-pox, and she thoroughly intended to get Sweetie Belle singing and Scootaloo dancing at the talent show. So the next time they'd cross horns wouldn't be until Family Appreciation day. She already had a plan for that, and the Gabby Gums episode, not to mention her cousin's visit. Yes, time-looping wasn't exactly fun, but it had compensations.

* * *

11.10 (Lord of Bones)

* * *

Hiding behind one of the potted plants along the hallway, Celestia watched and waited for her sis...no, for _Nightmare Moon _to take the bait. She didn't know what the dark alicorn was planning, but behind the pranks there had to be something… undoubtedly something nefarious. All the same, she'd gone to all the trouble of making her trap decidedly harmless, but more than potent enough to buy time for a follow-up binding spell.

So, she waited.

And, like Grogar himself, Nightmare Moon slipped out of the shadows and looked down at the trap. The elegant head looked to and fro, then bent down to eat the cake holding down the pressure plate.

Celestia bravely held back a sob as her prized cake; so prized that she could only have it once a year, was demolished by the moon princess. Still, it was for a good cause, and when the pressure plate was set off-

Nightmare Moon burped, and blushed. The empty plate vanished in a dark blue burst, leaving Nightmare Moon alone with nothing other than the crumbs around her muzzle and a conjured napkin.

And a conspicuously absent trap.

"Oh, come on!" snapped the Sun Princess. She sprung out of her hiding place and pushed the surprised night alicorn aside, before stomping on the plate to no effect. She struck it a few more times with her hoof, until she heard the 'click'. "Fina...oh, _horseapples."_

There was a decidedly uncouth 'SPLAT'. Nightmare Moon winced, and Celestia poked her head out of several hundred pounds' worth of cake batter and extra-thick whipped cream.

Stumbling and swearing, the Sun Princess tossed and turned in the mixture, before she saw Nightmare Moon's face; a face that was crinkled up in a smile so very _Luna _that it made Celestia's heart ache.

A silver-shod hoof bopped her playfully on the nose. "Beep beep," laughed Nightmare Moon, before zooming away in a burst of speed.

* * *

AN: Set eleven.

As normal, remember that I'm not the only author here... (In particular, Stainless Steel Fox really likes writing CMC Loops.)

And I like comments.


	12. Chapter 12

12.1 (Stainless Steel Fox)

* * *

Diplomancy – Ticket Master

* * *

Twilight had had a suspicion of what was going to happen from the time she'd come to help out Applejack, which had turned into a solid belief when she heard about the farm-pony's bet with Big Mac and now turned to certainty as Spike burped up a letter with a Royal seal. Oh great, it was that time again.

"A letter from Princess Celestia!" Twilight had been thinking about this day, and how to handle it better than she had the first time. She'd always felt guilty about how the Grand Galloping Gala had turned out for her friends. The after-party they'd had at Donut Joe's had been fun, but all the anticipation and excitement, leading up to that massive disappointment... At least these loops would be good for something. Spike was reading the well remembered words.

_Hear ye, hear ye. Her Grand Royal Highness, Princess Celestia of Equestria, is pleased to announce The Grand Galloping Gala to be held in the magnificent capital city of Canterlot, on the 21st day of_, eh, yadda yadda yadda, _cordially extends an invitation to Twilight Sparkle plus one guest._

"The Grand Galloping Gala? Woo hoo..." As Applejack's expression lit up, she schooled her own to be less illuminated. "What's the matter sugar-cube? I'd have figured you'd have been as pleased as a hound dog with two tails to wag!"

As Spike burped up the two golden tickets, Twilight replied, "It's a great honour to be asked, and it'll be wonderful to spend time with Princess Celestia... when she's not doing her duties as host. I guess that's why the two tickets, so I can bring a friend to keep me company. It's just, I've never been, but from what I've heard there's certainly no galloping. It'll be a big bunch of nobles standing around comparing egos and wallet sizes. I'll fit in about as well as a spell book in a rack of ledgers and fashion magazines. Have you been to one Spike?"

"No, and I plan to keep it that way. I don't want any of that girly frilly frou-frou nonsense. "

Applejack cut in. "Well if he ain't interested, I surely would. Land sakes, if I had an apple stand set up, ponies would be chowin' our tasty vittles till the cows came home. Do you have any idea how much business I could drum up for Sweet Apple Acres? Why, with all that money, we could do a heap of fixin' up 'round here." Applejack's eyes became distant. "We could replace that saggy old roof, and Big Macintosh could replace that saggy old plough, and Granny Smith could replace that saggy old hip. Why, I'd give my left hind leg to go to that gala."

"Uh..." Twilight raised a protesting hoof. "You do realise it's held in the palace grounds? It'll probably be catered by the palace chefs. Your wares would be up against fancy hors d'oeuvres made by the finest chefs in Equestria..."

She was interrupted by a vertically descending Rainbow Dash. She glanced up and materialised a thick mattress over her and Applejack's head that intercepted the plummeting pegasus like a catcher's mitt. As she lowered it down, the pegasus sprang off and asked, "Are we talking about the Grand Galloping Gala?"

Applejack huffed. "Rainbow Dash, you told me you were too busy to help me harvest apples. What were you busy doing, spyin'?"

"No, I was busy napping, and I just happened to hear that you have an extra ticket?" The irrepressible pegasus replied, hovering upside down in front of Twilight.

"Yes, but I'd have thought you of all ponies wouldn't find a fancy dance like the Gala interesting," Twilight replied.

Dash began to spin her fantasy about how going to the Gala would be her ticket into the Wonderbolts, and Twilight wondered why she hadn't spotted the many, many flaws in the pegasus' plan the first time. Probably because she had no more idea of what the Gala was really like back then than they did, and had been just as excited. She felt even more guilty. She was the one who always did her research, who found things out, and she'd let her friends down by not checking this. Still, she could at least do something for Dash.

"This performance... It's one of their most spectacular and important?"

"Yup!" Rainbow Dash preened.

"Requiring split second precision and teamwork?" Twilight pressed.

"You betcha!"

"And if some-pony dived in the middle of it and threw off their timing, the whole thing could unravel?"

"Yes... wait what? Uh..." Rainbow Dash gave a rueful chuckle and rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof. "Heh, heh, I guess I hadn't thought of that. But I could still go and spend time with them, get to know them."

"Uh huh, Twilight was goin' to offer me the ticket, weren't ya?" Applejack interjected. "I asked first!"

"That doesn't mean you own it, c'mon, I'll hoof wrestle you. Winner gets the ticket." Rainbow dashed over to a stump and held up a hoof and Applejack quickly joined her.

Twilight managed to push them apart before they got started. "I'll decide who gets the ticket, they're mine after all. But I don't think either of you would get as much out of going as you think. As I was saying to Applejack, the Gala will be catered by the Palace kitchens part of the ticket price, and while I'd pick her confections over some frilly palace hors d'oeuvres any time, those upper crust Canterlot party-goers will probably stick their noses up at buying stuff off a cart."

She rounded on Dash. "As for hooking up with the Wonderbolts, I suspect every-pony at the party will have the same idea. I doubt you'd get any more time with them than I'll have to talk to the Princess. I _have_ to go," Twilight emphasized, adding just a bit of a slouch to her stance. "The Princess invited me by name, and I can't disappoint her, but you don't have to." Her stomach rumbled, and she gave an embarrassed little grin.

Neither Applejack or Rainbow Dash looked pleased.

Applejack exclaimed, "It sounds like you'll don't want us to go!"

"Yeah, what's the matter? Aren't we fancy enough to be with you at the Gala?" Rainbow huffed.

"Girls, that's not it at all..." Twilight cried out, but the pair of them were walking off in opposite directions. She gave a big sigh and hung her head. This wasn't going to be as easy as she thought. "C'mon Spike. I'll wait until they've both cooled down. I need something to eat anyway."

"Now that's an idea!" the little dragon enthused.

She levitated the dragon up onto her back, and as an afterthought, levitated all the remaining baskets of Golden Delicious over and into the barn before heading back into Ponyville. In the distance she could see the two other ponies continuing their interrupted hoof-wrestling match.

* * *

As they walked through the town towards the central square, Spike asked, "So who _are_ you giving the ticket to?"

"I'm hoping no-pony!" Twilight said. "Not that I wouldn't love to have both of them there as friends, I was just trying to make sure they weren't disappointed..."

Even fore-knowledge couldn't always save you from the bouncing ball of chaos that was Pinkie Pie. Exactly why she shot out of the top half of an open door would remain a mystery, but her destination quickly turned out to be Twilight. Pinkie Pie landed on the road, and the two golden tickets landed on her muzzle.

"Gah! Bats! Bats on my face!" She engaged in the usual zipping around like some insane ground bound firework, then finally realised what they actually were and went off into her own little fantasy land about what the Gala was like. Twilight reckoned it was better to let her run down on her own, so she left well enough alone until Pinkie finished with, "Oh thank you Twilight, it's the most wonderful-est gift ever. "

Twilgiht attempted some damage limitation. "Y'know, that doesn't sound like any description of the Gala I've ever heard. It's more of..."

"Are those what I think they are?" Rarity was there gazing at the tickets clutched in Spike's hand.

"Yes, yes, yes! Twilight's taking me to The Grand Galloping Gala in Canterlot," Pinkie said, completely ignoring Twilight's hoof-waving.

Rarity was starry eyed. "The gala? I design ensembles for the gala every year, but I've never had the opportunity to attend. Oh, the society, the culture, the glamour! It's where I truly belong, and where I'm destined to meet… _him._"

"Him! … Who?" Pinkie Pie asked, and boy did she get an answer. Twilight still couldn't believe that Rarity had ever fantasised over a worthless piece of horseflesh like Prince Blueblood, but then for someone who'd never met him, his title and appearance might make his superficially attractive. Prince Blueblood was one pony she thought couldn't improve even if he _were_ stuck in a time loop. As for becoming a Princess, well, Twilight had ideas along that line for those of her friends, but hooking up with Blueblood wasn't one of them…

"Twilight, I simply cannot believe you would invite Pinkie Pie so she can... _party_, and prevent me from meeting my true love. How could you? Hmph!" Rarity folded her forelegs.

Twilight couldn't help it, the idea of Rarity calling Blueblood her true love was just so silly she burst out laughing.

"Well, really!" Rarity growled. "You don't believe that the Prince would be interested in a simple Ponyville girl such as myself?"

"No, I mean yes, but..."

"Maybe he'd see more to me than you obviously do!" The white unicorn flounced off, looking annoyed.

"That's okay, you were going to give the ticket to me anyway..."

Pinkie Pie was interrupted as the ticket was snatched out of his claws by Angel, who dashed back to Fluttershy with it. "Angel, these are perfect."

Twilight rubbed her forehead with a hoof. "I haven't made _any _decisions about the extra ticket yet."

"You haven't?" asked Pinkie Pie, shocked, and Rarity appeared by her side.

Fluttershy asked. "Um, excuse me, Twilight. I would just like to ask, I mean, if it would be alright, if you haven't given it to someone else..."

Twilight sighed. "Let me guess, you're interested in seeing the Princesses' private garden."

Fluttershy hesitated, then was urged on by Angel. "Oh my, yes! Well it is only open the night of the Gala, and that's the only night all the flowers will be in bloom, not to mention the fauna, the humming hummingbirds and the buzzing buzzards... "

"Wait just a minute!" Rainbow Dash dropped down from the sky.

"You were following me, " Twilight sighed.

"No. I mean, yes. I mean, maybe. Look, it doesn't matter. I couldn't risk a goody-four-shoes like you giving that ticket away to just anybody."

"Wait just another minute." Applejack was there too.

"And the gang's all here!" Twilight rolled her eyes. The five ponies were getting into a five way argument, and her stomach was rumbling. "Right now I could eat just about anything, even oatmeal."

"For lunch? Oatmeal? Are you crazy?" called out Pinkie Pie before she returned to the fray.

No-pony was happy right then and there, and they made no secret of it as they complained. Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity all seemed to share the opinion that she didn't think them suitable for a fancy party, Pinkie Pie was… well… Pinkie Pie, but it was the depressed Fluttershy who tugged at her heart strings the most. Maybe she should tell them what she had planned, but she wanted to get everything organised first.

Twilight lit off her horn and threw up a firework spell which went off with a bang. "Quiet!"

She sighed. "Girls, please don't argue. Applejack, I already explained why I don't think you'll get much out of going to the gala with a cart, and Rainbow, it's not going to get you into the Wonderbolts. Rarity, Prince Blueblood may look the part, but he's really not your type. Pinkie Pie, the Gala isn't the sort of party you're thinking off, a formal ball, not a carnival. And Fluttershy, you aren't even bothered about the Gala, you're only interested in the gardens."

"Huh, it sounds like you don't want any of us to go to the Gala!" Applejack said.

"Not like this!" Twilight was getting fed up of not being fed. "Right now, I'm going to get myself some food. Meet me at the library at sundown, and I will try and work this out so everyone goes away happy."

"You will?" They chorused, looking happier.

"Yes, now I've got to go!"

* * *

"Rainbow, I am _not _comfortable accepting unwanted favours, so I'd appreciate it if you close up that rain cloud right now."

Twilight materialised an umbrella for the table at the restaurant as Rainbow Dash sealed up the hole she'd made in the clouds. "I said sundown, and I meant it!"

Just as she was about to take a bite of the sandwich, Rarity appeared with her own private rain shield. "Twilight, it's raining!"

"Yes, yes I had noticed," Twilight sighed.

"Come with me, you should get inside before you catch a cold."

"Let me guess, you just happen to have a dress for me that's perfect for the Gala, and you just happen to have a matching dress." The Anchor rolled her eyes.

Rarity blushed. "Well, maybe? But that's what friends do for one another, and we are the best of friends, are we not?"

"A true, true friend would trust me to do the right thing, and wait until sundown." Twilight growled. "Oh, and let me eat my meal in peace!"

"Did someone say eat?" Applejack's voice drifted over. Twilight quickly munched on her daisy sandwich before the farm-pony's covered cart got there. Seeing all the goodies stacked inside would make her even hungrier.

Before the farm-pony could even speak, Twilight cut her off. "No, your farm made treats may be delicious, but they're a bribe, just like the dress Rarity made. I expected more from you. I told you, sundown!"

She finished off her sandwich and dashed away, with Spike on her back and a purple shield protecting her from the rain. As expected, Fluttershy was inside, spring cleaning.

"No. Thank you for the help, but I'm not accepting favours from anyone. That's not what friendship is about. Sundown!"

As she let the pair out (and had Angel bunny kick her in the fetlock en passant) she was dragged out of the door by a pair of pink fore-hooves.

Her horn lit up at the top of the first bump, and she brought herself to a stop in mid-air. "Pinkie! Sundown, no sooner!"

She teleported back to the library, and slammed a purple energy dome over the whole place. She had a lot to do, and she couldn't afford interruptions… or being chased around by the crazed horde of ponies that would manifest when Pinkie spilled the beans.

At sundown, with her preparations done, she raised the dome. A few moments later, there was a knock at the door. Spike opened it, and the five ponies trooped in.

"Have you decided...?" It was hard to tell which pony had asked first.

"Will you let me say something first?" Twilight's tone made them all pause. "Do you have any idea how bad you made me feel by trying to force me to choose one of you? Whoever I chose, I'd leave four other disappointed ponies, four friends I let down. I may be still learning about friendship, but bribing me and trying to cheat each other out of the ticket? I'm _sure_ that's not it. You are all my friends, and I want to make you all happy, and with just one extra ticket I can't!"

All five ponies looked back and forth between each other guiltily. As she hoped, each of them relinquished their claim on a ticket, even Rainbow Dash.

"We're sorry, Twilight!" they all said, in chorus.

Twilight smiled. Just because she intended to change things up, didn't mean she couldn't make the same point as originally. It had been a lesson for all of them the first time, and one of the first bonding experiences as a group. Now to the fun bit.

"That being said, it _did_ teach me an important lesson about friendship. That while sharing your blessings with friends is one of life's great pleasures, it isn't fun unless you share it with all your friends equally." As she finished, the others' faces went through various shades of puzzlement.

She levitated seven tickets from the open saddlebag on the table and laid one in front of each of her friends. "I wrote to Princess Celestia asking if you could all come. She said yes."

The other ponies burst out in cheers. So far so good.

"Don't thank me just yet. I heard some of you say I didn't want you to go because I thought you weren't good enough for a fancy place like Canterlot." That stopped Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash cheering, and the others stopped out of politeness. "Nothing could be farther from the truth! You're my friends, and I want the very best for you. I didn't want you to go to the Gala because I was trying to protect you from being _disappointed_!"

That got them all looking curious.

"I spent the afternoon doing research, and gotten direct confirmation from the Princess herself. She considers the Gala to be one of the dreariest, awful, most stuffy events of the year. And she's been doing it for a thousand years or more!" Twilight doubted that any of them understood quite how wearying a thousand years of boring social occasions would be… but she herself had at least some idea, and a little of that came across in her speech. "As host, she has to put up with it, and if I can do anything to relieve her boredom, I will be by her side. _That's_ why I have a ticket."

"Applejack, taking a cart of goodies to the Gala will not net you the piles of money you hoped. It's fully catered, as I thought, and the sort of ponies you'll be selling have never bought off a stall in their life. They'll snub you, and all you'll bring home is sore hooves from standing around all night," she shook her head, "along with a cart full of leftovers."

Seeing the farm-pony slump, she continued.

"But if you go as a business mare, and talk to the ponies there, you might be able to pick up some contracts for Sweet Apple Acres. Speaking of which," she winked, "I also found out who to talk to at the palace about supplying the apples for those fancy hors d'oeuvres I mentioned, and you've already catered the Summer Sun Celebration for the Princess. I can set up a meeting, and I'm confident once the chefs at the palace have tried your apples, you should get that contract. That should net you enough money for your Granny's new hip. As for the plough and the barn..."

She lifted the pony bust off its pedestal and smashed it to pieces with her telekinesis, then cast a Reparo spell. It magically restored itself. "Let me have a look at them first before you hoof over any money."

"Twilight, this is too much..." Applejack started to say, but Twilight waved her silent.

"Rainbow, I did some checking and I was right, the Gala is the busiest night of the year. I sent a letter to Spitfire herself, and she gave me a good idea of what they expect. It's the duty no-pony wants, being dragged around by ponies eager to get their picture taken, having to listen to endless dull stories from ponies who just want to be able to name drop. It's possibly the worst time to try and get to know a pony." After all, Dash had only managed what she did the first time by a complete fluke that had proven nearly impossible to re-engineer.

"You talked to the commander of the Wonderbolts directly?" The cyan pegasus was incredulous.

"Not directly. I never really thought about it, but my position as Celestia's personal student does mean I have _some_ status in court." Rarity hid a grin at her self-deprecation, guessing at the probable depth of understatement. "Besides, my brother Shining Armour is adjutant to the Captain of the Guard at Canterlot castle, and it's likely he'll take over the top slot when Commander Ironhoof retires next year.

"As adjutant, he deals with relations between the Royal Guard and Equestria's other services such as the Wonderbolts. They are often drawn from the Royal Guard and vice versa. He knows Spitfire personally, and he helped get my message through."

Rarity's eyes went wide. "Your brother is going to be Captain of the Royal Guard?"

"Yep!" Twilight giggled. "Sorry, though, I think he's spoken for. My old foal sitter, Princess Cadence, I think she has a thing for him, and vice versa."

That had all of the ponies wide eyed. "Sugarcube, I had no idea..."

"_I don't_ normally talk about it, I don't want ponies to think I'm all high and mighty."

Spike chuckled. "Yeah, High And Mighty is a unicorn stallion and the second biggest snob in Canterlot after Prince Blueblood."

Twilight grinned. "I also mentioned that I knew a pegasus called Rainbow Dash who was one of the most awesome fliers I knew. We shall have to see if that goes anywhere, but mentioning things like your one pony controlled tornado and the way you cleared the sky in ten seconds flat apparently piqued her interest. I'm hopeful she'll spare a few hours to come down and see you before the next Young Fliers Competition in Cloudsdale. I've gotten you your chance to meet her, what you do with it is up to you."

"OhmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohMYGOSH!" Rainbow Dash didn't look like stopping any time soon, so Twilight moved on to Rarity.

"When I said Prince Blueblood wasn't your type, I didn't mean you weren't good enough for him, I meant the opposite. Spike will back me up on this," and a glance at the dragon showed he was nodding vigorously. "He's efficient, I'll give him that. No-pony else could combine such stupidity, arrogance, narcissism and inability to admit any other point of view than his exists, let alone has any validity, in one pony. In fact," a grin flashed across Twilight's face, "it would normally take three. I would not set my worst enemy up on a date with him, let alone one of my dearest friends."

Twilight could remember how Blueblood had treated Rarity originally, and in some of her earlier loops had found out far more about him than she wanted to know.

"_However,_ I've decided that I shouldn't assume any pony is beyond help, even Blueblood." After all, miracles happened – and that wasn't an entirely sarcastic thought, either, what with one redeemed deity and another. "Also, I think you'd be the one pony who'd enjoy the gala for what it is. So what I'm going to do is give you a chance to study him and decide for yourself before the Gala. You said when we first met you wanted to go to Canterlot and enjoy the sophisticated atmosphere. I should have seen I could help with that long before now."

"It's going to take time to arrange, but Princess Celestia has agreed to let you stay at the palace for a couple of weeks, in the East Tower. It's normally used by visiting ambassadors, so it should be comfy enough." Vast understatement. "I'll write to Cadence and let her know you're coming, I'm sure she'll want to meet one of my new friends, and she's about the friendliest pony I know.

"Spike knows more ponies outside the Royal family, as Princess Celestia brought him up after I hatched him. I was thinking of asking him to go as _your _assistant." She turned to Spike. "You know Hoity Toity, don't you?"

Spike hadn't been privy to this wrinkle, and was over the moon. "YES! I mean yes, after I helped him out with the thing at the place. I know High Hat, Fancy Pants, Diamond Dust... all the ponies any-pony should know! But don't you want me here as your assistant?"

It was clear he was torn between going with Rarity and worrying Twilight didn't need him any more. She gave him a gentle smile. "Oh Spike, I'll always need you, but I can manage for a few days on my own. If things become desperate, I'm sure I can come ask for help."

Rarity was still stunned at the idea of staying at the palace and getting personal introductions to the most important ponies in Canterlot. "I... East Tower... Princess... oh, my..."

She collapsed backwards in a swoon with a smile that looked like it would have to be surgically removed. Twilight manifested a fainting couch to catch her.

"Well, that went well." Twilight grinned. "Rarity, eyes on the prize, or rather Prince Blueblood!" (Still a prize, though usually with the word 'buffoon' appended to the end.)

That got her unfainted in a hurry. The purple unicorn continued. "The idea is to give you a way into Canterlot society, and go to the same sort of events he goes to. You'll be able to watch him and make your own decisions, and in the meantime, I'm sure you can promote your skills and get lots of dress orders as well. So when you go to the ball, it won't be as some unknown, but as the exclusive fashionista Rarity. So even if Blueblood turns out to be unsalvageable, you'll still enjoy the night to its fullest."

"Oh Twilight!" Rarity gasped, "It's more than I ever dreamed!"

Twilight turned her attention to Fluttershy. "I can get you in to the Royal Gardens a lot sooner than the Gala, if you're willing to accept some restrictions. The problem is, the animals in there aren't as... well, they've all lived in the gardens their entire lives and they're not used to strange ponies as your animal friends. If you just appeared, you might scare them off before they could get to know you."

"Oh my, that would be terrible!" Fluttershy gasped. "But I'm sure I could get them to come to me if I just treat them gently."

"Maybe," Twilight replied, knowing otherwise – Fluttershy's talent was one thing, but for animals that delicate it would take weeks to work on its own. "But if you want to visit them, you'll have to do it in the company of Mr Greenhooves, the palace gardener. I think you'll like him, he's… sort of your counterpart for the palace gardens. I think he knows every animal there by name. With him along, he can help you overcome any timidity they show. By the night of the gala, you'll be familiar to them, and you should be able to enjoy the blooming without a problem."

"Well, if I have to..." Fluttershy said in a slightly downcast tone.

"Trust me; I want this to be the best night ever for you, which is why I'm not leaving anything to chance. Though there is one other pony you may meet. Princess Luna spends a lot of time in the gardens, in the evening at least."

"Princess Luna?" Fluttershy asked nervously. "She won't be... mad at me?"

Twilight sighed, rather theatrically. "Right now even getting mad would be an improvement. I've been corresponding with Princess Celestia, I kind of felt responsible as I was directing the Elements of Harmony when we freed her. She still feels really guilty about Nightmare Moon, about what she did, she's not a happy pony. I guess there's no way she could be after what she's gone through. She's hiding away from things. Princess Celestia is worried about her, and I am too. She's back to her original form physically, but she's nowhere near ready to take back her duties."

Twilight could see Pinkie ready to explode, and cut the fuse.

"Pinkie, normally you'd be perfect for cheering her up, but for now she needs some-pony less... energetic. What she really needs right now is a friend, somepony who won't judge her, won't try to force her to be anything she isn't ready for. That's why I'd hoped if Fluttershy met her, she might be the right pony to bring her out of her shell."

"Oh! Oh! Has she turned into a snail?" Pinkie asked. "Is that why you need Fluttershy to talk to her?"

"No she hasn't, but she needs gentleness right now." She turned back to the pegasus. "Fluttershy, you don't have to if you don't want to, in fact I can make sure your visits are scheduled so you don't, but if ever there was a job for the Element of Kindness, this is it."

Twilight felt slightly guilty, she knew what buttons to push, and engaging Fluttershy's 'mother to all things living' reflex and pointing it at Princess Luna could be considered manipulation of the worst sort. But it should be so good for both of them. With Fluttershy's support, Princess Luna would hopefully recover much sooner than she originally had, and having someone like Luna as a friend should help Fluttershy's confidence no end.

She could see the subtle changes, the straightening of the wings, the slight narrowing of the eyes, and knew the bait had been well and truly taken. Fluttershy was now on a mission.

Finally, she turned to Pinkie. "I'm sorry, there's no way to make over the Gala into the kind of festival you described. It's a fancy formal ball, and that's what all the other guests will want. It may not be what you or I consider fun, but it is to them. I can get you books on what the Gala is supposed to be like, but I can't do anything more about it."

"Don't worry Twilight!" Pinkie beamed. "There's no kind of party I can't handle!"

"I'm trying to get you a chance to help out at the Hearth's Warming Eve celebrations at the castle, which will be _exactly_ that sort of festival you want. We can all go together, and I'm sure with your unique touches, it will be the best Hearth's Warming Eve ever!"

At that Pinkie _did _explode in a burst of streamers, and started bouncing around. "Two parties for the price of one! Of course, we're not paying admission so that's still zero, but this will be so super-duper-fantastically-amazing."

Twilight relaxed, it seemed she'd succeeded. Every-pony seemed happy, and if she'd advanced things several months for most of them, that just meant they'd have more time afterwards to enjoy the memories.

"Uh, Twilight?" Applejack spoke, and Twilight worried that she'd left something out. "I think we all owe you a huge apology. You went to all this trouble, and after the way we squabbled over that durned ticket. You didn't need to do this. We're your friends, through thick and thin, and that ain't gonna change."

"Yes, I did." Twilight was relieved. "I know you're all my friends, and what I did wasn't some kind of trick to get you to like me more. I just want the very best for my friends, I didn't think you could get what you wanted from the Gala, and I just happened to have the ability to make sure that you could get it some other way. It isn't like I've given it any of you on a silver plate, you'll still each have to work to get what you want, but I could help you along, and that's what friends are supposed to do."

A tea pot floated out of the kitchen, followed by a box of the Cakes' finest cakes. "Now let's have some tea, and enjoy just being friends."

* * *

12.2

* * *

"You did what."

Dash shrugged helplessly. "He asked!"

Twilight sighed. "_What_ did he ask?"

"He asked me what would be a good idea for a story, and I told him about one of those Transformers Loops. Then he got all excited, and started writing." Dash pointed. "He's over there. Scorch Mark, I think his name was."

Twilight shook her head, looking the unicorn over. He seemed entirely too excitable…

"Ah, there you are!"

Before she could fully process his words, he'd hurried over. "I love this story! Do you know anypony who could help with the special effects? I changed a few things, of course, because doing giant robots is a little bit harder to make work than magical transforming beings, but…"

Twilight picked up the script – surprisingly complete, given he'd only had lunch to work on it. "Transfor_mares_?" She opened it and skimmed through. "This… actually, it's not as bad as I'd feared…"

"I could help with the cool explosions!" Dash volunteered. "I love them!"

"Hmm…" Twilight pondered. "I could go find Trixie. She's good with this kind of thing too. Especially explosions. And Rarity's always good for costumes."

"The only problem is who would fund such a film," Scorch Mark said, slumping slightly. "Making convincing transformations is going to be _very_ expensive…"

"Actually…" Twilight slowly smiled. "I have an idea that could save money."

* * *

"Hello, Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I'm helping with the production of a film which could use your talents and those of your hive. As such, I've negotiated with the director and producer to secure their approval to offer you a very lucrative contract, with ten percent of the gross being transferred to your hive and with sundry other benefits."

"…what?" Chrysalis managed, staring at the purple unicorn who'd materialized in her inner sanctum.

"By sundry benefits, I include but do not limit the description involved to the fact that you and all other Changelings will become film stars, resulting in an overall highly positive opinion of your race and making it much more easy for you to sustain yourselves. Any transformation for which a given changeling requires more magic than they currently possess will be facilitated by our Kindness and Laughter assistant directors, who specialize in positive feelings," Twilight rattled off.

"And you want us to…" Chrysalis read through the contract in front of her, feeling _very_ confused. "…be actors in a film? Where we change from normal ponies into giant beasts which fight one another?"

"One set of them the villains, the other set the heroes," Twilight confirmed. "Remember, amongst the benefits there's that you'll end up able to integrate with the ponies of Equestria freely, and that ponies will have overall positive opinions towards you."

"…this bears some thought…" Chrysalis mused.

* * *

Fluttershy staggered out of the movie theatre, and collapsed onto a bench. "I feel… overwhelmed…"

Dash and Pinkie left next, excitedly talking about the premiere. "So awesome!"

"Yeah!" Pinkie bounced. "And was that big blast of prism dragonbreath-"

"You bet it was! Sonic Rainboom, perfectly timed!"

Spike hurried out with a big box of popcorn, entirely finished. He was keeping it because he was on the side – Twilight had managed to make his 'Spike-Zilla' transformation controllable, so he was one of the biggest monsters in the film.

Rarity took off her earmuffs. "I _knew_ these were a good idea! That film was very impressive, but just _so_ loud!"

"Yeah," Applejack agreed. "Still, it was kinda cool seeing all o' them giant monster fights."

"I don't know if you've heard," Twilight said to Trixie, as they left last of their group, "But he's already started work on a second script. He wants Princess Luna to get involved."

"Oh?" Trixie still had a flush from excitement – seeing hundreds of ponies loving _her_ work was an amazing thrill. (And the huge amount of bits she was going to get from the film wouldn't hurt, either…) "What is this one about?"

"Not sure yet. Probably going to have even more explosions, though, so you and Dash won't be out of work." Twilight winked. "I do have the title, though. _Transformares: Dark of the Moon._"

She'd finally worked out what was going on, after checking her extensive collection of fiction from the hub-loop. They'd found a pony variant of Michael Bay.

_No wonder he got on so well with Trixie and Dash…_

* * *

12.3

* * *

"Hey… Spike?"

Spike turned, nearly knocking over a shelf with his tail. "Whoops… what is it, Twilight?"

"Well, two things. First… don't you think you're overdoing it a bit?" Twilight pointed. "I mean, you're kind of… big…"

Ever since Twilight had showed Spike how to adjust his own relative age (and hence size), he'd taken to growing at least three feet right as they arrived in Ponyville – usually overnight – and calling it a growth spurt.

"Maybe. If this doesn't work, I'll go back down a notch." Spike shrugged. "What was the other thing?"

"Well, I've been meaning to ask… why is it that you like Rarity?" Twilight winced, and tried to clarify. "That might have come out wrong. What I was actually asking was… okay, first time around when we turned up in Ponyville, it seemed like a crush, and… you know. But you're older now, and…" Twilight made a helpless gesture. "I don't know how to put it."

"No, I get you." Spike carefully manoeuvred around the stacked returns and headed for the kitchen. "I'll make some tea."

* * *

"Okay, so you're kind of right." Spike passed Twilight her tea. (Earl Bay.) "It did start off as just a crush – like with Moondancer, in Canterlot. But…"

Spike stopped, and sighed. "It's hard to put. I think it really got started back when I had that…greed growth incident."

Twilight nodded sympathetically.

"See… I don't know if you've noticed, but Rarity isn't a particularly nice pony, by nature." Spike waved his claws, as if to fend off disagreement. "Let me finish. Her first instinct is always for herself – stealing some of a dragon's hoard, or how well she's doing with her dresses, or how much she'd love to be a model… but – and it's a big but, a big, glorious-"

"Get on with it," Twilight mock-growled. "Or I'll start thinking there's an extra t in there."

"You got me." Spike grinned. "Anyway. Her first instinct is for herself, but she _knows_ that and she tries as hard as she can to overcome it. Even when she's not Awake, you can see it – and the Looping Rarity has pushed it so far back you could barely tell it was there."

The dragon paused, and blushed. "Is it strange that I _really_ like a mare with self control? The kind of self control that could make a dragon into an altruist?"

"Yes," Twilight said flatly, and Spike chuckled at her tone. Inside, however, she was making all sorts of realizations.

"…she reminds you of you, doesn't she?" Twilight said softly. "Or who you want to be, I don't know. Somepony – someone, I suppose – who's got the control to restrain their darker impulses."

"Pretty much." Spike shrugged. "There's other bits, too – she's smart, graceful, we like a lot of the same things and she _does_ look very good, but what I just said is kind of the core."

"And you know it's real because of her Element," Twilight continued.

"Yeah. Mind you," Spike momentarily let a flame-gem in a golden gorget flash into being around his neck, "I've got one too…"

"You're really proud of that, aren't you?" Twilight could remember when he'd got it. A very, very strange Loop where Spike – as a young adult dragon – had replaced Rainbow Dash as local weather coordinator, Element of Harmony et cetera. (It turned out he really _was_ the new Rainbow Dash, for certain values of 'new'. Though Ponyville had had a suspiciously arid climate that Loop…)

Spike nodded, his hand going to where it had been. "It's kind of the… proof, I suppose, that I'm doing things right."

* * *

12.4

* * *

"…aaaaaaaAAARGH!" Applebloom screamed, and ran out of the class.

Scootaloo put up a hoof. "Miss Cheerilee? Shall Sweetie and I go get Applebloom back?"

Cheerilee nodded tiredly. "Fine. Just go ahead. I'll expect you to do well on the history test next week, though…"

The other two fillies shot out after their friend.

"And as for _you_, miss Tiara, you're going to take notes for poor Applebloom," Cheerilee continued.

"But I only-"

"I know all you said was that she didn't have a cutie mark, and I don't know why she reacted so strongly." Cheerilee dropped some extra sheets of paper in front of the pink filly. "But she _did_. So get writing. And I'm going to check them afterwards to be sure they're good ones."

Diamond Tiara gave an exaggerated sigh, and started writing down notes about the founding. Cheerilee stayed another moment to see how they were going, then nodded. Not bad, actually… Tiara did good schoolwork, and got along fairly well with the rest of the class most of the time, but something about her and the 'crusaders' just kept striking sparks.

* * *

Scootaloo bounced over a hill, using her wings to control her jump even if she couldn't fly with them. "Over here!"

Sweetie came over the slight rise next, and the two of them sat down on either side of Applebloom.

"Okay, what is it?" Sweetie asked.

"I just… gaah!" Applebloom kicked the ground. "If she was just an idiot I could ignore her. It'd be hard, but I could. But… I keep thinking of that second Marecross Loop."

The others nodded, understanding. Flight Coordinator Diamond Tiara had run her squadron with a rod of iron, browbeating them in public over the slightest mistake… and had brought eleven out of twelve pilots out the other side of the war alive. That was a little over half the entire surviving roster from the _six_ squadrons on board.

"She was a bitch, but she was a bitch for a reason," Scootaloo agreed. "I hated it when she was tearing me apart over that flubbed transformation timing, but if we'd done it against the Zentraedi…"

"Yep." Applebloom made an explosive gesture with her hooves. "Bang, zoom, right to the moon. And when that isn't coming up, it's the time she ended up in charge when the machines attacked… you know, the metal-changeling-things?"

"Yeah…" Sweetie agreed. "I think I'm seeing why you left."

"Exactly." Applebloom shook her head. "Every time there's serious trouble, she rises to the occasion like she was born to it! And then she goes back to being the petty, small minded _jerk_ we're used to."

"Maybe we could ask Twilight to have Nightmare Moon win next time, to see what happens," Scootaloo suggested idly.

Then the Crusaders exchanged glances.

"Actually…" Applebloom said, slowly.

* * *

"Diamond tiara action!"

Nightmare Moon flinched backwards as the spinning item of jewellery came close to her face.

Below the rooftop that Applebloom and the other Crusaders were hiding on, a battle was taking place. Golden Voice, Silver Spoon, Platinum Star and the other Jewelry Scouts were devastating dozens of moon-born creatures of the night, while their leader – Diamond Tiara – kept Nightmare Moon herself at bay.

* * *

"…ah think we got a defective Loop…" Applebloom said, watching in stunned amazement.

"Yep," Scootaloo concurred. "It's like somepony took a Sailor Moon Loop and reversed the naming theme."

* * *

12.5 (Lord of Bones)

* * *

Celestia backpedalled in fright as her student was consumed in a pillar of seething violet fire. Around her, the court assembly panicked as they heard the roar of a dragon just before the entire palace shook, as though a small earthquake had hit it. The sides of a vast pair of spread wings were easily visible outside, considering they blotted out the sunlight streaming in from between the pillars and windows.

The firestorm in the audience chamber slowly died away, revealing an alicorn only slightly smaller than Celestia herself. An armoured brace ran from the base of the glowing black horn down her neck, with a cuirass of the same metal protecting her chest. Both wings blazed like fire; one the feathery wing of a pegasus, the other the bat wing of a thestral. Her mane and tail were clouds of hissing violet flame, and her hooves were shod in silver.

On her flank, the deep purple of Twilight's cutie mark glowed malevolently.

Her former student spread her wings and opened sultry violet eyes. "I am queen of the end of day and the beginning of night! Here I say, and so it is truth, that I shall rule! Bow, my little ponies, for the Hour of Twilight has come! _THE DUSK SHALL LAST FOREVER!" _Her voice thundered as the Bearers of Harmony flanked her, all grown to her size and just as darkly beautiful.

There was a dull "thud!", and both assembly and nightmares turned to the sight of Princess Celestia passed out from shock next to a slack-jawed Luna.

"…too much?" Twilight asked meekly.

* * *

12.6

* * *

For once, Twilight woke up in bed.

_Wait a minute_, the lavender pony thought as she stirred, _that's not quite right. Er… for once, I've started the Loop in a bed. That's much less ambiguous._

Delicate matter of nomenclature thus resolved, she crawled out of bed and looked around.

_Er, wow…_

The room was expensively decorated, to put it mildly. Nothing _too_ excessive, certainly not opulent, but the simple cut of the furnishings – which were made with fine cashmere and velvet and dyed in her precise coat and mane colours – was a statement in and of itself. And the deep pile carpet was another.

She did a quick check, discovering that she was an alicorn this loop. Further investigation revealed that a number of familiar looking dresses were hanging in the closet, and her Magic tiara was resting on the dresser atop a pile of books.

_Now, if only my Loop memories would return…_

Someone knocked on the door. "You up yet, Twily?"

"Yeah, just a minute!" Twilight called back automatically, then blinked. Apparently she was still living with her parents. Which meant something unusual was going on this Loop…

"Okay, but hurry up," the voice continued. Twilight frowned, because despite it being male she couldn't quite identify it – it certainly wasn't her father's, but the door distorted it, "or I'll have to reverse gravity in there to make sure you're not still in bed!"

At that precise moment, the memories arrived.

"Oh, buck me…" Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Trottingham, younger child of King Discord and Queen Celestia, said to herself.

Not only were she and Crown Prince the Prince of Horseshoe Bay Shining Armor (both alicorns, as it happened) the children of Discord and Celestia – who _had_ taken kingdom titles, for whatever reason – but several other familiar faces were also turning up in various important positions.

Princess Luna, for example, was the former heir to Equestria's throne, but was now third in the line of succession after her sister had produced two children. For her part, she was as of yet unmarried – something of a blessing for Twilight, who was starting to wonder if the alicorn of the night would have been married to Angel Bunny or something. Or Blueblood… shiver. (He was, as it happened, a duke this time – duke of Canterlot. And one without any blemishes on his record of service. Either this was a different Blueblood or he was planning something.)

Furthermore, the nearest other kingdom was Amoria. Ruled by – Twilight was almost expecting this – King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis, though the fact that _their_ daughter was Cadence was a completely new twist. Oh, and then there was the fact that Spike was pulling his occasional "ruler of the Griffins" trick, and that there had been several border incidents between Equestria and Amoria in the last few years.

It was obvious what the Loop had planned for her.

"_Politics…"_

* * *

"Shiny." Twilight walked into her brother's room, noticing the same combination of tasteful and insanely expensive that marked her own room – though with the addition of maps and a complete suit of armour piled in various places around it. "Please tell me that the word 'anchor' means something to you."

Her brother blinked, then grinned. "Yep. This is one hay of a strange Loop, isn't it?"

"Yep." Twilight pulled two bottles of Applejack's finest cider out of her subspace pocket, then blinked at Shining. "Do you want one?"

"Er… okay." Shining watched, bemused, as Twilight pulled a third bottle out, levitated it across to him and then started on the first of the two she was apparently going to have.

After a long draught of apples – well, mainly apples – Twilight felt a lot more alicorn. "Okay. What happens now?"

"Seems fairly obvious." Shining's grin could have lit up the room. "Two words, little sister. Dynastic marriage."

"…_oh._" Twilight managed a weak smile. "Okay, I suppose that is a good thing on your part, then. You and Cadence, just like every time."

"Exactly. You know, you should find a somepony for yourself," Shining ventured.

"Nope." Twilight shook her head. "Most other Loopers are female, which… just doesn't really interest me. The rest are Spike – who is spoken for – and Discord, who doesn't loop often anyway and who I didn't have an interest in even _before_ he became my _dad_ for this loop." She took another drink of the cider. "Good thing this stuff is non alcoholic."

"Er…" Shining raised a hoof. "How long has that been in your subspace pocket?"

"…oh, right. I wondered what the extra tang was." Twilight levitated a drop out of the bottle and put it on a spatula, which promptly dissolved. "Huh. Probably best not to drink much more of that now, then."

"I'd say so." Shining nodded. "And I can see you've put some considerable thought into this, so I won't press you on it. Anyway, I'm going to get dad-"

"La la la!" Twilight interjected.

"Look, we have to get used to calling him that for now, okay?" The elder, male, alicorn wondered just how strong that cider actually was, watching his little sister bounce around the room with her hooves over her ears. "Right. Okay. So, I'll make sure a message is sent asking about the possibility, because quite frankly when we turned up things were on the slippery slope to a war."

"Cool." Twilight nodded. "Well done, Shining, for preventing a war by getting nookie. Anyway, I'm going to go to the library." She spread her wings, and Shining caught her tail in a telekinetic grip.

"No flying while drunk, Twilight."

"No fair." Twilight pouted, then began walking to the library instead.

* * *

Princess Luna, Princess of Manehattan, stomped into the throne room. "Thy younger child, mine sister, has taken a quarter of the books in the library and removed them to her room."

"…oh." Queen Celestia frowned. "Can't you get her to give them back?"

"She is." Luna shook her head wearily, and the rulers noticed a bruise on it. "She's throwing them back out, with little slips saying 'finished' on them, at a rate that approximates to three per minute."

King Discord nudged his wife. "Told you that my side would come through eventually!"

There was a small explosion, and the castle shook.

Luna rolled her eyes. "If my liege will excuse me, I suspect that that may have been the distillery I saw her setting up."

Celestia buried her head in her hooves. "And she was doing _so_ well…"

* * *

"Well, this is a new experience," Twilight muttered.

Her brother shrugged. "Next time, make sure to put stasis spells on magically potent drinks, or they'll turn into magically potent _alcohol._"

This time they were in her room, and Twilight was busily writing an essay. The theme was 'why princesses should not brew volatile alcohol in their rooms'. (That was from her mother. Her father had added to that punishment, but also given her three gold stars and a new bathroom.)

"Still." Twilight finished the current paragraph with a flourish, and cast a word-count spell. Nine thousand, two hundred and fifty three words.

"Cheer up!" Shining said, nudging her. "Only another thirty-one thousand to go."

Twilight suspected she'd have gotten off lighter if the scumble hadn't gang-detonated and blown her outside wall clean off the castle…

* * *

"Your majesty," Blueblood raised a hoof, "There is one more matter, now that the vows have been taken."

"What is it?" Celestia replied, with a smile. Blueblood had been very helpful in getting the wedding organized, so this was hardly unusual.

"Well, this needs to be a bit more of a _Blue_ wedding." There was a sudden flash of steel, and a dagger emerged from his tuxedo. Dozens of ponies charged into the room, wielding weapons, and a goodly number of the guests also drew steel. The dozen griffins around Emperor Spykoran looked around warily.

"You see," Blueblood continued in the sudden stillness, "I've always wondered what it feels like, sitting on a throne. And now I get the change to have three at once."

Twilight started laughing. "You're a _moron._"

"What?" Blueblood turned, stung. "It's valid! So long as I kill you all in the right order, so that the two lovebirds technically inherit, and then I kill them too, since I have a position in the line of succession I can legally obtain the twin crowns. And the griffins give the throne to whoever kills the previous Emperor."

"No, not that!" Twilight fell over, rolling around on the floor in paroxysms of hilarity. Between the gasps of laughter, she managed to get out, "You just tried to assassinate eight _deities_ and a greater dragon!"

Blueblood turned back to Celestia, who was by this point glowing a dull yellow with heat. "Ah. Er… parley?"

* * *

"Good suggestion, Twilight!" the king of Equestria said, grinning. "I never thought of using the moon as a holding cell."

"So long as thou dost get them off mine satellite soon…" Luna said, less happy about the whole thing.

"Oh, I had an idea for that, too." Twilight levitated up a map. "Here. The island of San Equus. No pony habitation there, the griffins never run trade lines that far south and there's enough grass to keep them alive." The young alicorn's grin grew malicious. "Why not even make it an independent kingdom? See how many of them are content with being bossed around by _Blueblood._"

Chrysalis matched her daughter-in-law's grin. "I like it. Poetic justice."

* * *

AN:

Set 12!

Again, I like feedback. And is it me or are a LOT of these actually suitable as entire fics on their own? (It seems like the MLP Loops are fanfic concept generators _par excellence.)  
_

Anyone guess where the Jewel Scouts' names are from?


	13. Chapter 13

13.1 (Stainless Steel Fox)

* * *

**Calling out the Cutie - Revenge of the Everfree**

* * *

Diamond Tiara cursed as she pushed her way through the underbrush. This whole thing was turning into an even more massive debacle than her original actions. Why couldn't that rotten little farm filly have known her place and been properly humiliated? Instead, she'd turned the tables with her preposterous speech and gotten the entire class on her side, making it look as if it was Diamond Tiara who was in the wrong.

Obviously, this set of circumstances couldn't be allowed to stand. There was no way one pony could know all those things, especially a blank flank loser like Applebloom. So Diamond Tiara had challenged her to back up her boasts. When it started to snowball, and turn into something the whole of Ponyville had gotten interested in, Diamond Tiara had felt smug – after all, what was the point of letting somepony lie to you? _This_ would teach her a lesson.

But the annoying bumpkin had so far gone through the tests set up for her without a bobble. She'd fixed up a broken wheel and damaged harness on a two wheeled farm cart, then slipped into the harness and hauled it back and forth over the back forty of Sweet Apple Acres under the watchful timer of Time Turner.

Building a wooden wall from the planks and supplies she'd brought in the cart, then raising a single room sized barn and roofing it using parts she claimed to have made earlier, using the rest of the supplies to build some training dummies that she then enthusiastically demolished under the watchful eye of that crazy old earth pony Temple Fortress.

That was the _other _annoying thing, the number of ponies who seemed to spring out of the ground to help run her through her tests. After finishing off the dummies, she fought a couple of other students from his dojo, and beat them, though she was sure it had all been a set up despite the assurance that they wouldn't going easy on her. Seeing her sweeping the legs out from under a stallion half against her size and holding him to the floor with a 'Mountain stance', it had to be! (Though they had made noises about her using skill to compensate for relative lack of strength, whatever that meant.)

Which brought them into the Everfree forest. Applebloom was up ahead with Miss Cheerilee and Zecora, identifying plants and picking some of them for later use in showing her brewing skills. Diamond Tiara growled again. Who could tell if that gibberish the two had spouted at each other was a language? But it had impressed Cheerilee. That was why Diamond Tiara was following them. She had to do something to sabotage Applebloom, before she succeeded and humiliated Diamond Tiara again. Anyway, there had to be something behind a curtain somewhere, right?

She'd been a bit nervous about following them into the Everfree, but so far it hadn't been any different to walking through Whitetail Woods, a bit darker and creepier, but nothing like the horror stories she'd heard. Of course, that blank flank did it, so it couldn't be that hard. She strained to hear what they were talking about up ahead, and trampled her way through the large patch of blue flowers without even thinking about it.

* * *

Diamond Tiara woke up from a nightmare, remembered what had happened yesterday, and wished she was back in it. As if watching Applebloom cook and bake and brew potions wasn't bad enough, it hadn't been Twilight who'd come to test her knowledge of stars and navigation. Princess Luna herself had shown up. Apparently Twilight had been telling tales, and the description of this contest had piqued her interest.

Applebloom, of course, had somehow weaselled her way through Princess Luna's questions. It had been evening when they started, and Luna had raised the moon, then started switching around the star patterns to test if Applebloom could identify the time of year… which, of course, she could.

Now she'd have to go to school and face the class as the neighsayer who had been made to look like a fool by the foul farm filly. She rolled out of bed, grappling for her comb as she turned to look at herself in her palatial room's full length mirror.

The scream was audible in Canterlot.

* * *

Applebloom had finished her morning chores and was just getting ready for school when there were angry voices from outside, near the gate. She grabbed a last piece of toast in her mouth as she trotted out to see what all the hoo-ha was about. As soon as she came in sight of the gate, there was a scream of "There she is!" and some more raised voices.

Applejack and her big brother were at the gate, talking or rather arguing with a bunch of ponies led by Filthy Rich, and centred on Diamond Tiara.

"You're plumb crazy! What makes you think that Applebloom had anything to do with it?" Applejack asked, as angry as Applebloom had ever heard her – well, when there wasn't some kind of invasion going on, anyway.

"She's been humiliating me ever since I teased her about that blank flank. This is her latest revenge, another way to punish me!" Diamond Tiara sobbed.

"We did see her brew up magic potions yesterday, so… " Filthy Rich began.

Applejack got right in his face. "Finish that sentence and you can forget ever getting another jar of zap apple jam. Applebloom would never do something like that!"

Applebloom swallowed the last bite of toast and asked, "What the hay am I being accused of? Before you bring out the boiling oil, I'd at least like to know why."

"This, you rotten little peasant!" Diamond Tiara presented her flank, which was as unblemished as the day she was born.

Applebloom couldn't help it, she burst out laughing.

"You see!" The pink pony growled.

"I… I'm sorry…" Applebloom chuckled. "I had nothing to do with it, but whoever did it must have had a major sense of poetic justice. The queen of cutie-marks deposed… Hmmm… Hold on a second…"

She trotted over to Diamond Tiara, who tried to scramble back with an 'Eek!'

"Oh stop it, I'm not going to hurt you, I just need to smell something." She ducked her head towards Diamond Tiara's hooves and sniffed.

"What are you doing you freak!"

"Figurin' out that you mosied on into the Everfree forest, and ran longwise through some blue flowers." Applebloom lifted her head and looked back at Applejack. "Poison joke. Zecora told me all about it. It has a unique scent, and some _nasty_ effects."

Of course, looper Applejack would know perfectly well what poison joke was, but in-loop she had no reason to, hence the little piece of play acting.

"How could a flower make my daughter's cutie-mark vanish?" asked Filthy Rich.

"It's wild magic, it does what the name says, plays a nasty prank on any-pony that walks through it. She's lucky; you could have been turned into a diamond statue, or a duplicate of her own tiara."

"Lucky?" Diamond Tiara was still sobbing. She threw her hoof to her forehead in a dramatic gesture worthy of Rarity. "My life is ruined!"

Applebloom rolled her eyes. "Oh stop with the drama. Zecora has a recipe for an antidote, you can be back to normal as soon as you take a dip in it. And I won't even ask why you were sneaking around after me in the forest. If there was ever a case of some-pony upsetting their own apple cart, this is it."

"There's an antidote?" Filthy Rich asked. "Then you must fetch it at once!"

Applejack growled. "So you were accusing my little sister of poisoning your daughter, but now she can help you change your tune."

The stallion hung his head. "I'm sorry, I was just scared for my daughter's health. Please, help her!"

Applebloom nodded. "Sure I will. But I'm not missing school and chasing off into the Everfree right away. There's no further danger, she's just minus a cutie-mark for a bit."

"I can't go to school like this!" Diamond Tiara exclaimed.

"Nope, you need a shower." Applebloom giggled. "I'll go get Zecora as soon as school breaks for the afternoon."

* * *

At the school it was a zoo. Rumour had apparently gotten there ahead of Diamond Tiara, though considering the fuss she'd been making on the way to Sweet Apple Acres it wasn't hard to guess why. Normally, the pink pony would have been happy to be the centre of attention, but in this case, she was practically cringing at the fillies and colts looking at her.

She'd rushed home for a quick shower, then put on the dress she'd had made up for her cute-cenera, which oddly enough covered her flanks, obscuring her cute mark, or rather where her cutie-mark should be. Considering the other ponies had come in their normal attire, i.e. buck naked, this only served to make her look dreadfully out of place. Even Silver Spoon didn't have a dress on, which made things worse.

Diamond Tiara had dawdled at home, wanting to give the other ponies as little time as possible to interrogate her before class started, but that just seemed to have allowed a bigger crowd to gather. As well as her class mates there were ponies from the other classes that normally had their lessons at other times, and Applebloom, always Applebloom in the middle of it.

She was chatting to that geek Twist, and a pair of other blank flanks, a unicorn and a pegasus who she'd seen around. She hadn't bothered to learn their names, but that hadn't stopped her and Silver Spoon using all of them for verbal target practice several times in the past. After all, they'd been easy targets. She'd even managed to make Twist and the unicorn cry, which had been particularly satisfying.

As she approached, the pegasus gave a smirk. "Ha! Not so high and mighty now, are you? I may not have my cutie-mark yet, but at least I'm not afraid to show my flank!"

She winced. So that was it, Applebloom had been getting together a group to continue to persecute her…

"Scootaloo!" Applebloom exclaimed. "I may not like her any more than you do, but I ain't going to stand by and let any-pony get picked on because she has a blank flank! How do we expect to get any respect if we turn around and do the exact same thing?"

Diamond Tiara growled back. "Don't play innocent, I'm sure you've told the entire school what happened!"

"Yep, I figured I should tell them about the poison joke before some-pony decided I'd fed you some crazy potion, or Sweetie Belle had used Rarity's blemish concealment charm on you. Though considering the way you treated her last week, I wouldn't have been shocked if she had."

"I never thought of that!" The unicorn in question suddenly said, eyes wide.

Applebloom gave her a quick hug with one fore-leg. "Just as well, that's the sort of mean trick she'd play. Do you really want to drop to her level?"

"No, but I'd have liked to have seen _her_ without her cutie-mark."

"C'mon, she's already managed to embarrass herself far worse than any prank we could ever pull. Twist and I have to get to class. I'll be late to the club-house, I've got to go ask Zecora to brew up an antidote for her."

The other three agreed and gave a four way high hoof. "Okay!" "See you then." "Cutie Mark Crusaders, ho!"

Diamond Tiara's ears pricked up at that, and as they moved inside she sneered, "Ha! After all your talk, you're just as obsessed with getting a cutie-mark as any-pony! Or are you going to tell me that's not what your pathetic club of misfits is about?"

That got her a sharp look from Miss Cheerilee, who'd heard the tail end of her sentence. Twist cringed slightly, but Applebloom just shook her head.

"Just because I think there's more to a pony than a cutie-mark, doesn't mean I'm not interested in seeing what mine is, if any. I guess I was when I started, but now it's as much a fun thing to do. We hang together at a tree-house on the farm, play games, go out trying different activities to see if we get a cutie-mark, and basically have fun. If we actually get a cutie-mark out of it, that's a bonus."

She shook her head. "You're focusing on the destination and ignoring the journey, at least that's what my sister would say. Well actually, I figure you're just feeling bad and wanting to spread it around, but it comes to the same thing."

Miss Cheerilee cleared her throat. "Every-pony, quieten down. I'll take register, and then I think Applebloom should give a short explanation of just why it's not a good idea to go into the Everfree forest without some-pony who knows what they're doing. If then."

Diamond Tiara just sat there and fumed.

* * *

13.2 (crossover with Spyro)

* * *

"Wwwwwelcome to Magic Crafters!" Cosmo said, looking down at the purple dragon who had just freed him and stretching sinuously. "I want you to rrrelease the dragons, rrreclaim our treasure, and rrrecover the eggs from those pesky blue Thieves."

He disappeared in a flash of magic, leaving behind his pedestal.

"Reclaim, huh?" Twilight the Flutterpony sniggered. "Yeah, bit late for that."

"Hey!" Spike the Dragon replied, looking hurt. "I've only eaten the tasty ones… it's not my fault that they're _all_ tasty…"

"Admittedly, I _do_ wonder what Spyro usually does with all his." Twilight hummed. "Hey, try not to fall off any more cliffs, okay? I can only save you so many times before I start to get tired."

"Yeah, thanks for that." Spike crouched down (easier than normal, because he was an all-up quadruped this time) and launched himself forward in a charge.

Gnorcs in silly metal dresses went flying.

* * *

"Hey, Twilight!" Spike looked around, towards some sheep (which promptly fled) and then at a large portal. "I fancy a trip to the beach. Can you take me?"

"No." Twilight said. "You're always making me teleport you everywhere, use the portal for once."

"Okay," Spike grumbled, and gestured towards the portal to Dragon Shores. "Come on, then. And when are you going to work out how to get me to fly properly? Age-shifting doesn't work here."

"When I work out how the Flights do it, that's how. And no sooner." Twilight did a loop-the-loop in irritation. "I can't even READ here! The dragons' books are all twelve feet tall, and I'm barely bigger than the words!"

There was a tugging sensation as they passed through the Dragon Shores portal, and then they were in some strange, non-beach place with a cheetah, a faun and a mole talking at them.

"Okay, look," Twilight said. "We weren't supposed to be here, so if you'd just-"

"But we need your help to defeat Ripto!"

Twilight picked up a fireball headed her way, and fed it through a one-way magical mirror – also, incidentally, pumping the energy in it up by a factor of a hundred.

There was a loud explosion.

"Okay? Can we go _now?_" Twilight did not like it when she was proven wrong by Spike, especially when his argument was actually based off not wanting to walk.

"Uh…" the cheetah, Hunter, looked back and forth between her and the crater. "Did you-?"

"Twilight!" Spike shouted. "They have gems bigger than ME here! Let's stay for a bit!"

"…oh, alright. Maybe _here_ they have books," Twilight sighed.

"Oh, splendid!" the mole said. "I was wondering, do the portals you normally use follow a longitudinal or transverse wave pattern? Because I tried the first one, but it didn't pick up well until I'd gone through transverse and back."

"A mix, actually." Suddenly, Twilight was also an enthusiast for staying in Avalar. _At last, someone who has an intellectually stimulating task to work on!_ "We use Rayleigh waveforms, because those allow for more specific origin points which can be in the air and… _oh_! So _that's_ how the Flight portals work – they must carry the superfly spell in the waveform!"

"Splendid!" The studious mole took out a pencil and started writing that down. "We have a similar enchantment on the daises leading to Speedway portals, but that's in the arch and not the warp torus itself."

"Right." Twilight checked on Spike, and saw he was trying to get a gemstone almost as big as Princess Celestia out of the ground. "Okay, we tend to use Runcible-type gates with more flexibility on the waveform, but the downside is that the Horns of the Spoon take a lot more power… I did wonder why they bothered…"

* * *

"Don't worry, Bianca," Twilight said, the purple glow around her intensifying, "I'll handle this. Hey, Spike!"

"What?" the dragon asked, halfway through a game of Ancient Egyptian Tanks.

"I managed to locate the Sorceress, so we can teleport straight to her. And I think I can apply Superflame, Superfly and Invincibility in the teleport flare."

Spike jumped out of the tank and was next to her in a second. "Cool. Let's go."

"Yep." Twilight's glow became blinding for a moment.

* * *

"And so, we say goodbye to the Forgotten Worlds," Spike said with an affected voice. "Land of giant monsters, malfunctioning portals, stolen dragon eggs and ludicrous numbers of Rhynocs."

Twilight grinned. "Wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Nah. Fun place, once you get past the occasional deathtrap or horde of giant scorpions." Spike hopped through the portal, and Twilight followed a second later. "What now?"

"I… guess we wait until the next disaster." Twilight paused. "Well, _you_ wait, anyway. I'm going to go try and work out how the Supercharge ramps work."

* * *

13.3

* * *

"I don't understand it," Celestia said, shaking her head.

The object of her confusion lay in the gardens of Canterlot palace. A three-hundred-foot-tall building, containing inside it a statue of herself – at thirty times normal scale.

It had appeared overnight. And she had no idea where most of her gardens had gone…

* * *

"Oh, how flattering." Luna looked around the huge building. The outside was covered with frescoes depicting her at her work of shaping the night sky, and the inside held silver sculptures of her surrounding a great replica moon.

* * *

"Explain," Firefly said flatly.

"Hey!" Dash raised her hooves. "This one totally wasn't me. Anyway, why _would_ I build a giant lighthouse out of clouds? It sounds like _far_ too much effort for me."

After a moment, Raindrops nodded. "Yeah, it is. You'd have left it half finished."

"Hey!" Dash paused, then realized what she was objecting to. "I mean, er, yeah! Exactly my point."

"Only question is, then, who _did?_" Firefly said. "I mean, it's helping pegasi find their way home, but these strange black insect-ponies calling themselves changelings keep bumping into the main mirror."

* * *

Fluttershy flew up to get a closer look at the strange sight. "Oh, my."

A jet-black obelisk, covered with runes which glowed purple, jutted out of the Everfree forest canopy. And above it, held in a deep purple glow, hovered a magnificent garden – with rare animals and plants which she was _sure_ were only supposed to be in the Canterlot palace gardens.

* * *

"Was this your doing, Braeburn?" Sherrif Silver Star asked, pointing to the east.

"Nope," the Apple replied, shaking his head. "Weren't me."

"Well, who _would_ put four giant stone pyramids out here?" Silver Star squinted. "And that's a griffin statue next to 'em, too."

* * *

"Down a bit… left a bit… and done!" Spike said, checking off the sixth item on the list.

Twilight finished off by casting the spells that secured the enormous earth pony statue in place, and then dropped the cloaking spell. "Right. That's the Colossus of Horseshoe Bay set up… now, one to go. Which one is it?"

"The mausoleum." Spike tapped his chin idly. "Not sure who to commemorate, really. I mean, most of our rulers are still around."

"…easy. The Founders." Twilight frowned. "Only problem is finding where they were buried. Any ideas?"

* * *

"…anyway, we managed to get them all done inside the same twelve hour period," Twilight finished. "With a lot of magic, anyway."

Discord clapped. "Very good, Twilight. Most impressive. So, you set up the Seven Wonders of Equestria? What was the reaction?"

"…Celestia was a bit annoyed that I'd pinched her garden," Twilight admitted. "But I had to move it anyway to put down the Temple of Celestia at Canterlot, so…" she shrugged. "Fluttershy was very happy."

* * *

13.4

* * *

"…Princess?" Twilight started at the unexpected sight. "What is it?"

"While I am grateful that you've made such good friends, Twilight," Celestia said, stepping into the Ponyville library, "I must confess that I originally sent you to Ponyville for reasons that were not entirely altruistic."

"Okay, then." Twilight frowned – was this connected to why Luna was over two months late? "Go on."

"It was my original intent to allow you to form friendships, it is true…" Celestia looked pained, "but that was in part due to the Elements of Harmony. They can only be wielded by a group of ponies with true friendship between them, and I feared the return of my sister – who has become Nightmare Moon."

Twilight nodded. "I see, and I do understand the logic. But… I remember that book. Wasn't Nightmare Moon supposed to return on the Summer Sun festival?"

"She was." Celestia nodded. "I was most impressed by how well you and your friends organized it, by the way – masterfully done. But the absence of my sister still troubles me." The alicorn of the sun lit her horn. "Twilight… I ask a great favour of you. Will you accompany me to the moon where my sister has spent these last thousand years, so as to determine whether she is still there or has escaped without my notice?"

The Element of Magic blinked. "Er, why me? I'm flattered, but…"

"You are the pony I would trust more than any other, Twilight." Celestia's voice held a quiet serenity. "And, in truth, my sister and I are closely matched – your power would, perhaps, be enough to tip the balance."

Suppressing a grin at the private joke – if it came to it, she had _more_ than enough power – Twilight nodded in turn. "Okay, then, Princess. I won't let you down."

"Thank you." The glow turned to a blinding flash.

* * *

Celestia and Twilight materialized inside a gigantic frosted-glass dome.

The ruler blinked, her air-bubble spell being completely unnecessary in the atmosphere already present in the dome. "I don't remember this being here…"

"Oh, hi!" said a voice from overhead, in the distant heights of the dome. There was a series of bright magical flashes, and the dome turned fully transparent.

Twilight blinked as Princess Luna flew down, carrying a huge slab of quarry-fresh stone. "Celly! I haven't seen you in SO long! And who's this?"

Celestia recovered her poise quite quickly. "Dearest sister. This is my student, Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight bowed. "It is an honour."

"I bet she's a regular anchor of strength for you," Luna said, and winked at Twilight. "Anyway, I got over the whole Nightmare thing about… three years after I came up here, and I've spent the rest of the time building. There's a complete environmental dome here, which stretches out across about half the nearside." Creating a series of illusions, Luna continued explaining. "I made the dome light-reactive so the sunlight isn't too intense – that's to compensate for the lack of the atmosphere – and the top surface has the Mare in the Moon motif. I know it might be interesting to have the whole thing transparent to emerging light so that the greenery I hope to transplant up here will be fully evident – imagine it, Celly, the moon having as many ponies and as much life on it as the planet below!"

The long, rambling explanation by an evidently Awake Luna about what she'd done over the course of the last ten centuries wound on for about twenty more minutes. Twilight was impressed – Luna had not only built a habitable area rather larger than any one continent, but she'd also constructed future cities, towns and villages within it. Any prospective colonists would almost literally just have to move in.

Celestia's jaw was just getting gradually more slack.

"…anyway," the alicorn of the moon finished, "Why are you up here? I mean, it's nice of you to visit, but…" she gasped and checked a moondial Pinkie had given her once. "Oh! I completely missed the date! Sorry, Celly, I hadn't realized I could come down by now. Anyway. Do you want to write the colonist adverts or shall I?"

* * *

13.5 (Stainless Steel Fox)

* * *

**Squeezing out the Competition**

* * *

"Well, looky what we got here, brother of mine, it's the same in every town, Ponies with thirsty throats, dry tongues, and not a drop of cider to be found…"

Flim's musical number came to a halt with the sound of a gramophone record needle scratch as he got a chance to look around at the road outside Sweet Apple Acres. Lots of ponies, all of them merrily drinking mugs of cider. One rainbow maned Pegasus had a pyramid of empty mugs in front of her, and another mug raised in salute to the stall which was clearly selling it.

There were still barrels stacked behind the stall, and a massive pile of bits overflowing the cash box. The orange pony in the hat who seemed to be in charge of the stall looked over at them sourly. "I hope you can pay for that post you just knocked down."

"What in Equestria?" Flim couldn't help saying. "We heard that there was a cider shortage here in Ponyville! That's why we brought our unique and superb…" The music started up again. "Unseen at any time in this modern world, born of creativity."

Seeing ponies starting to pay attention, the two started trading off.

"Folks it's the one and only, the biggest and the best,"

"The unbelievable,"

"Unimpeachable"

"Indispensable"

"I can't believ-able"

"Flim and Flam Brothers' Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000."

The music came to a halt again as Applejack retorted, "That's nice and all, but you're a mite out of date. Last year we couldn't produce enough cider, that's true, and we wanted to do better without compromising on quality."

She waved back at the orchard behind her. "That's why we got my friend Twilight in to do what she called a 'time and motion study'. We were doing the whole process by hoof, even driving the apple press of a treadmill, and changing the full barrels for empties. Turns out the only stages which really needed to be pony-intensive was bucking the trees to get the right apples, and quality control on the apples to see that only the best get in. Takes a skilled pony to tell which apples are just right for our cider."

"Our machine has a selector that does it automatically, and turns it into grade-A top-notch five-star blow-your-horseshoes-off one-of-a-kind cider…" Flam stopped, turning. "Hey, get away from there!"

Applebloom was tapping the wheel of their transport. "Huh, seems like a thaumic boiler system and a magically controlled spectro-mechanical analysis device feeding an undershaft powered processing line hooked up to a vacu-motive collector. Fast, but I bet it takes a lot of maintenance, not to mention a dedicated unicorn to power it. You'll get maybe a couple of hours of use out of it before you have to tear it down for an overhaul. No wonder you were riding around looking to make a quick bit rather than trying to market it."

Applejack grinned. "Mah little sister Applebloom has a knack for mechanical dohickeys. She built our new cider processing system."

Applebloom pointed over to a long line of wooden struts and machinery half hidden by the trees.

"Tain't as fancy or mobile as your contraption, but it's practically all mechanical, a simple conveyor system driven by an electric motor. Rather than a complex magical gadget, we just pre-filter using a simple feeder system onto a scale which drives a flipper that diverts the apple out of the process line if it's obviously too light. With the pre-washing stage and stirrers running off the same drive shaft, we can remove any leaves and twigs that got that far too.

"That allows Applejack and Big Mac to buck, and me and Granny Smith to check the apples that make it through the pre-filter. We have push button flippers to drop out bad apples rather than taking them off the conveyor by hoof, which saves a couple of seconds on each apple. May not sound like much, but over thousands of apples it adds up." Applebloom shrugged. "It was the bottleneck for the whole process, so with the two of us working on it and the other improvements we've managed to more than double our throughput, while still keeping the hoof picked quality that makes our cider the best in Equestria!"

"I'll say!" called out the pegasus. "This has got to be your best year yet!"

"I even rigged up an automatic feeder system for the barrels. Just a simple ramp and counterweight driven mechanism, but it does the job. And the best bit is that it's all _way_ overbuilt, it should run for days without any maintenance other than changing the filters in the washing stage and refilling the barrel magazine." There was a clunk as another barrel entered the mechanism. "All wood construction too, apart from the hardware, so it was cheap to build too."

Applejack couldn't help smirk slightly at the crestfallen faces of the two hornswagglers. "I'll tell you what; you can buy a bunch of apples at wholesale rates. Even with our new system, we won't have much left to export. You might find a market for what that gadget makes in Trottingham or Hoofington. We'll even knock off five points if you credit the apples as coming from Sweet Apple Acres. Of course, that's on top of what you owe us for the fence post…"

Flim fidgeted under Applejack's gaze.

"Ah, about that, we're sort of, low on funds just at the moment."

"So, you're broke." The farm-pony gave a sigh. "Figures!"

Flam replied, "We have plenty of assets, it's just they're all tied up in the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000…"

"Like I said, broke." Applejack replied, giving them both a look. "Well, you can always work it off in kind. Since we know your names, I guess you should know ours. I'm Applejack, and this's my little sis Applebloom. Over there you've got my brother Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith."

Truth be told, she had very little time for these two swindlers. They'd tried to steal the farm out from under her family, though the Apples hadn't exactly made it hard for them. However, only she and Applebloom knew that, as neither Big Mac nor Granny were loopers. Still, it went against her nature to just kick these guys out in the cold, as they hadn't actually done anything this time.

She'd let them earn the price of the fence post and their stake in apples, but she did intend to work them hard. Maybe she could teach them the value of an honest day's work, rather than a get rich quick scheme.

Applebloom was still examining the device with an appraising eye. She still dimly remembered that she'd been excited by the machine, and ready to use it, until the Flim Flam Brothers had suggested their yellow dog terms. Even in the original time-line, it had lead to her learning more about mechanics and the idea to design a float for the Summer Harvest Festival.

In a way, it had ultimately led to her finding her cutie-mark, a couple of dozen loops later. The problem had been, her talent wasn't just fixing stuff, though that had been a part of it, but inventing new devices and new machines, especially electronics. It had taken a fused loop, that first one where she'd subbed for a fox called Miles 'Tails' Prower, to show her where her skills really lay. (And annoyingly, it was never the same thing to get her mark two loops in a row…)

A lot of the technologies she was best at hadn't yet been invented in base-line Equestria. Her cutie-mark expressed itself as a number of different things, depending on the circumstances, spanners and apple carts had frequently figured, but whenever she went really deep into computers and electronics she got a rainbow striped apple with a bite out of it. She guessed it represented a zap apple, since they involved electricity and innovating new techniques to turn them into an amazing jam.

Still, this machine had been the first thing to turn her thoughts to creating rather than fixing up, so maybe she owed them at least something. Besides, she could use their knowledge. "Y'know, it isn't a bad design. Over-complicated, but the ideas are actually pretty sound. It looks to me like you got interested in adding all kinds of bells and whistles rather than making the basic systems reliable."

She couldn't actually blame them for that; it wasn't as if she hadn't suffered from that herself on occasion, especially when she was trying to tech up to building her own Maritech. Some of her more enthusiastic experiments had ended in malfunctions that involved terms like 'blast radius', and in a couple of particularly bad cases, 'funeral'. At least it had been her own. Even with every-pony being resurrected at the start of a loop, killing one of her friends would have been something she'd not have wanted to cope with.

"I wouldn't have thought an earth-pony filly would know much about magical engineering," Flam said carefully, clearly aware that Big Macintosh was watching them both with a stern expression.

"You'd be surprised. Maybe I could help out, in return for some help myself. When I want to get some magical elements into my designs, I have to get in Twilight Sparkle or my filly friend Sweetie Belle to help out. But Twilight Sparkle's more of a straight up artificer, she makes purely magical items, and Sweetie Belle's talent is more to do with singing, and using her magic to enhance it, or vice versa." Applebloom shrugged. "Besides, Sweetie doesn't have much in the way of actual magical power to access yet."

"They can both do it, but I feel bad about getting them to help me out for nothing. I figured if I could find a way to substitute my earth pony magic for unicorn magic in the rune sets, I could do the whole thing myself. Since you're the only two ponies I've seen apart from me who mix unicorn magic with machinery, I thought you might be able to help me figure it out. In return, maybe I can help you iron the bugs out of your doodad so it's actually a product you can sell, rather than a garage queen."

Flim, seeing a chance to ingratiate himself, and avoid more arduous farm work immediately said, "Why sure, little lady!"

Then he back pedalled, seeing the obvious flaw. "But we can't promise anything, earth pony magic can't be projected the way unicorn magic can."

"That ain't exactly true." Applebloom grinned, and picked up an almost empty mug of cider. She passed a hoof over it and the mug was full again. That had the two unicorns buggy eyed.

"Zebra use similar magic to earth ponies, but they've learned to project it. I learned potion-making, off of a zebra named Zecora, who lives in the Everfree forest, which often involves investing a brew with your own magic. I even managed to learn a couple of other tricks, like multiplying the dregs of a liquid to refill a cup. A simple application of the law of homeopathy." Sure, it took a _hay_ of a lot of magic – far more than you could make back from the potion – but it was a neat party piece to pull off once or twice.

She sighed. "But investing magic into rune sets etched into metal requires different techniques to investing it into a magically active organic base. My martial arts training helped too, but I still can't quite get it." She didn't say that it hadn't been her training under Temple Fortress, but under Master Roshi that had really buffed her earth magic manipulation.

From what Goku had said, the original Bulma hadn't been in the least interested in martial arts, though she was a genius engineer, but at least some of Applebloom's earth pony nature had carried over into her human body, and she'd been able to take the Turtle School training regime. She'd never be a Tenka'ichi Budo'kai Winner, but an also-ran by Dragonball world standards was still a serious martial artist by almost any other universes standards. Except Nerima, but then that was a special case.

"Don't get too comfy with those two, little sis. I aim to make them do some heavy work to pay for their apples. You can have them when I'm finished with them." Applejack motioned with her head in the direction of the rise that held the Crusader's tree-house. "Have them park that contraption at your workshop and bring them back down. We've still got a passel of work to do before the sun sets."

"We haven't…" Flam started to say, but Flim put a hoof over his mouth. "You'll provide food and a place to sleep too?"

"I reckon we can manage something." Applejack replied, tersely.

"C'mon!" Applebloom waved at the two of them, and stepped through the gates to Sweet Apple Acres. "And be careful with that thing, you don't want to knock anything else down."

She walked on ahead, leading them along the path through the orchards, and listened closely. The two of them were talking, and probably thought their low voices were drowned out by the background noise of their machine, but Applebloom had a lot of experience picking out voices from over the roar of machinery.

"Brother, why were you so eager to accept their offer?" Flam was asking. "Sure that filly did a party trick, but we could just try the next town over and see if we could scare up some business there. I didn't like the gleam in that Applejack mare's eyes when she talked about putting us to work."

Flim gave a little smirk. "Brother, you're missing the point. What we have here is opportunity. At the very least we can get a meal and a bed for the night. Who knows what else a couple of well groomed and devilishly handsome stallions might be able to accomplish? At least that filly up front isn't as hostile as the rest of her family. I'm sure we can charm her into putting in a good word for us with her sister."

The moustachioed stallion gave a huff. "If we can convince her that we've actually helped her. She's probably read a couple of books and is just playing at inventing. Or do you think she can actually help fix the 6000?"

"Who cares? We play along. Hopefully she'll have some basic tools, and maybe even parts we can use. We should be able to convince her to provide parts to show off our artificing skills on. It's better than nothing, at least."

Applebloom gave a little chuckle. This was going to be_ fun_. She stopped at the foot of the hill that the Crusader's tree-house sat on. It was built up with a main house, a lookout post surmounted by a telescope poking from the top, and a couple of small air-boat hulls and other platforms sticking out from the upper branches. A broad grassy path lined by apple trees on both sides, led up the side of the hill but stopped well short of the tree-house itself.

"Okay, park it here," Applebloom called out. "I have to open up the workshop."

She scampered up the hill, and disappeared into a small shack at the base of the tree-house.

Flam rolled his eyes. "That's her workshop? It's barely big enough to fit a wagon, let alone this."

There was a crunch, and a rumbling sound. A line appeared in the grass in front of them, and the lines of trees running up either side of the wide path tilted outwards as the 'path' split to open upwards into a pair of massive doors, running the entire length of the hillside. The opening was wide enough to fit a dirigible, let alone the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000.

A paved road with dotted lines of lights running along each side ran into the hill. As they watched, blowers started up in the grates that ran along the centre line, clearing away the dirt that had fallen from the crack between the doors.

"Okay, bring it in!" Applebloom's voice came from nowhere, or rather, they guessed concealed speakers. They followed the instructions, filled with equal parts trepidation and curiosity. Both were well rewarded. As soon as they were in, the doors started to close over them, sealing down to a shallowly angled ceiling, lit from underneath by the runway lights.

The space at the end of the runway clearly took up most of the interior of the hill. A massive main hangar, at least twenty pony-lengths high and over a hundred each way dominated, but along each side were smaller bays containing still massive machines. An open frame lift at one end clearly rose up to the 'shack' by the tree-house, and the entire place was lit by banks of electric lights of a power and density they'd only seen in Manehattan. The smell of metal and lightning hung in the air.

Applebloom was enjoying the expressions of shock on the two pony inventors faces. A Maritech fighter was parked up alongside a humanoid robot that stood over halfway to the ceiling, painted in yellow with crimson trim, her Apple Labour. Several smaller suits of armour stood on pedestals, and various other vehicles and devices such as a sizeable Extreme Gear board were neatly arrayed along the walls.

She trotted over. "I'm sure we can find some basic tools in here somewhere. I even have a couple of books, though most of them are on my computer system."

Back when she was starting out, it had generally taken months to build even a basic workshop, and it had been frustrating to have to start over each loop, even when she'd managed to get Twilight Sparkle to store some of the key equipment she needed in her stuff-space pocket. But that was before she'd been through the world of the dragon balls.

While capsules should have been the answer, they'd proved to be awkward to store in her sub-space pocket. The two incompatible spaces had interfered with each other and tended to dump out whatever she was storing at random times. She'd invented a shrinking watch which miniaturised things in real space, but that had proved to awkward to produce for pieces of kit much beyond the size of a human.

Ultimately it had been the martial arts training that she'd undergone that had pumped up her energy reserves and ability to manipulate earth magic. It had also fed into her being able to maintain a much bigger volume of stuff space. Now she could pack everything she needed, all her heavy production machinery and equipment, into her own stuff-space pocket. Setting up the workshop was just a matter of days, hours if she got Applejack to pitch in.

"This is…" Flim was flabbergasted, and Flam was flummoxed.

"Oh, this is nothing," Applebloom said. "You should see the Geofront Twilight Sparkle built under Golden Oaks Library, well under all of Ponyville. It's a couple of miles across, has its own eco-system even. It's designed to store the whole of Ponyville in case of an emergency, but she mainly uses it for her artificing. She drives her mage furnace off a magma core-tap, it makes this place look like a rabbit hole."

Admittedly, Twilight only built the danged thing once every few dozen times Applebloom met her – too much effort otherwise – but it was there this time, so it was a valid point to raise.

She waved to an empty section of wall. "You can park up there. It's handy for the photo-etching process line. I figured one way to reduce your maintenance is to replace those magical valves with one hundred nano-meter integrated rune-sets. Completely solid state, using a magically active mithril/orichalcum layer on a cold iron substrate. I can probably shrink the entire quality control module on your gadget down to a square about the size of a single bit piece."

"That's impossible! No-one can etch magical symbols that finely!" Flam flustered. "A unicorn horn is only so sharp."

"Photo-etching, I said. I use a resist dye made from black hellbore, a common base for potions. It's magically active and leaves a magical trace on the runic pattern, which is raised rather than engraved. All a unicorn horn has to do is spray it with magic, and the runic pattern is charged up. No need to etch each symbol with your horn while investing magic into it." It occurred to Applebloom, perhaps a bit late, that she was probably overdoing it on the advanced terminology… ah well, they'd learn.

She chivvied them towards the lift. "Now come on, my big sis doesn't like to be kept waiting."

* * *

13.6

* * *

Celestia felt herself tense up involuntarily. While the preparations for the Summer Sun festival seemed complete, at least those which Twilight had overseen… there was also the matter of Nightmare Moon's imminent return.

If her crazy plan had worked, then – just maybe – she could see her sister safe once more. But… if not, then all she had worked for in the last thousand years would be erased.

_Time._

She walked out onto the small stage in Ponyville town hall.

* * *

About halfway through the preparatory speech, she saw something out of the corner of her eye and stopped in confusion. Her audience rustled, wondering why she'd stopped, then turned to look at the same thing she was.

A mug with steam wafting off of it, hovering in the air.

Then… Celestia's knees went weak with shock. Luna followed the cup, which was clearly held in her magic, blinking sleepily and wearing a dressing gown.

"Celly? Sorry to interrupt…" Luna lowered the mug slightly, and Celestia caught sight of plain milk in there, "But I can't find where you keep the cocoa. Did you rearrange the kitchen?"

"…what?"

"Well, I was getting ready for bed," Luna said, breaking off in a jaw-cracking yawn, "anyway, I was getting ready, and I was going to have a cup of cocoa and some biscuits before I turned in. But I couldn't find the cocoa, and I've already heated the milk so I thought I'd ask."

Luna raised something to her mouth, and ate it. There was a crunching sound. The next words she spoke were slightly muffled. "Excellent biscuits, though. I approve of the chocolate shards baked into them."

"…Luna?" Celestia tried to get over her shock. "Er… second cupboard from the left, behind the sugar."

"Thanks. Sorry for the interruption." Luna vanished in a flash of dark.

* * *

13.7

* * *

Celestia massaged her temples. "I'm sure I must be imagining it…"

"What is it, dear sister?" Luna asked, finishing off her evening breakfast.

"Earlier today I went for a walk in the gardens," Celestia explained. "And I could have sworn blind that Discord's stone prison had moved."

"Surely not!" Luna said, shocked. "He has escaped?"

"No, no, his statue's still on the pedestal, it was just… differently posed." Celestia shook her head. "Or that's what it looked like. Maybe I'm just tired."

Her sister put a hoof on her foreleg. "Go to sleep, Celestia. I should be handling more of your workload than I am, anyway."

* * *

The next morning, Celestia flash-heated some toast (a bit extravagant, but she was feeling chipper after her extra sleep) and passed Luna making herself dinner.

The lunar alicorn pointed at her. "I think that you might be right, sister."

"What?" Celestia asked, a butter-loaded knife paused mid-spread.

"He's sticking his tongue out." Luna said, pointing towards the gardens.

The elder alicorn forewent jam and hurried out into the grounds, eating her toast on the move.

* * *

"Is it the stress, Luna?" Celestia asked, shaking her head. "Are we _both_ losing it?"

"I do not know." Luna frowned. "What did he look like this time?"

"Jazzhands." At Luna's look of confusion, Celestia created an illusion. "There was a minotaur a few decades back who called this pose jazzhands. Not sure why…"

"No headdress any more?" Luna checked. Celestia nodded in confirmation.

"Right, there's only one way to solve this," the elder sister added. "Luna, I would take it as a favour if you would handle my duties for the day. I am going on stakeout."

* * *

Celestia ignored the rain pattering on her wings. There was no _way_ she was going to spend five minutes asking for the weather schedule to be changed, and potentially waste six hours of staring through binoculars.

Lulled by the whispering of the rain, it took her about three seconds to notice when the statue abruptly disappeared.

"…wait, what?" she said, lowering the binoculars. "But… all I did was blink…"

Grey stone caught her eye, and she turned towards it. It was almost a hundred metres from where Discord's statue had been, and it was…

…frozen in a running pose.

Another blink, and it disappeared again. This time, it appeared precariously dangling from the roof.

Another – and it vanished altogether.

Celestia swept the gardens, looking for the grey stone of Discord's statue and backing up in slight fear…

Then bumped into something. She whirled, seeing the statue only a yard or so away from her.

Dangling from its hand was a sign that read 'boo!'

* * *

Luna galloped onto the colonnade. "What is it, Sister! I heard your scream-"

"Don't blink, Luna!" Celestia shouted without turning around. "I think it moves when we blink!"

"Actually, I don't _need_ you to blink," Discord replied conversationally, brushing grey dust off his skin and fur, and tossing the sign into the distance. "It's just funny."

He looked at the two glowing horns pointed right at him. "Oh, what? It's just a bit of fun!"

"This is what I think of your joke, Discord," Celestia countered. "Fire!"

* * *

_Dear Twilight Sparkle,_

_I am sending you a large fridge containing the draconequus known as Discord. This chaotic entity ruled over Equestria in times long past, but was defeated and sealed by my sister and myself using the Elements of Harmony._

_He escaped at some time last week, and attempted to play games with Luna and I. We did not take this well, and as a result he was hit by two very powerful spells – one fire, one ice._

_Since I'm sending him to you in a fridge, I'm sure you can work out which order they were in. In any case, he survived, but it is our hope that he will not be ready to attempt his mind games again for some time – at least until the ice thaws._

_Please either re-seal him or attempt to rehabilitate him as you did my sister._

_Always ready to speak with you,_

_Celestia._

* * *

Twilight heaved the fridge open. "I told you that imitating the Weeping Angels was going too far."

Discord declined to comment. Possibly because of the foot-thick coating of ice.

* * *

13.8

* * *

Celestia felt the by-now-familiar surge of the world reorganizing itself around her, as she Awoke into a Loop.

She took a moment to scan her memories. After the Loop where she'd nearly missed an ongoing invasion, it was something she never forgot…

"Goodness," she said, blinking. "That's a long way back…"

It was, in fact, barely three years after Luna had first transformed into Nightmare Moon.

Celestia pondered what to do. She could wait over nine hundred and seventy years for Twilight Sparkle to be born, or…

"I think 'or', this time," Celestia decided.

In the first place, she wanted to see what the Griffin lands were like. In the second, she wanted to see if giving Luna her own subjects would help her recover.

And in the third, there _was_ a bit of the trickster in Celestia. Just a bit.

* * *

Nightmare Moon was woken from a deep, decade-eating slumber by a WHUMP of displaced air.

Air? On the moon? She quickly drew herself erect, breathing in deeply as she realized that, yes, for whatever reason there was air available.

Also, there was a fifteen-foot tall slab of bedrock and soil in front of her, stretching at least a mile to the left and right. Flying up, she saw it was just as large in the forwards direction – and it had trees on it. Trees, and flowers, and grass, and…

For a few minutes, Nightmare Moon looked more like a filly prancing amongst something she'd not thought she could enjoy any more.

Another _WHUMP_ drew her out of her reverie, this one coming from much further off. The alicorn took flight, circled, and looked out in the direction it had come from.

This new slab, like the first one, turned out to be dozens of miles on a side. Instead of forest, it held grasslands.

A third concussive wash of air, followed by an almighty splash. Millions of gallons of sea water appeared in one of her large craters, filling it almost to the brim.

* * *

By the time half an hour had gone, there was enough transplanted land on the moon to equal a small continent, and Moon was utterly baffled.

Then an earth pony materialized with a _pop_.

"…eh?" he said.

"Why art thou here?" Nightmare Moon asked, flying down in front of him.

"Mine ruler, Princess Celestia, enquired of me as to whether bananas were the fruit I preferred," the pony replied, frowning at the alicorn. "Upon my negative answer – since my family are more into the trade of growing apples – she made some bespellment and transplanted me here. Where might here be, if I be so bold as to enquire?"

"This? This is the moon!" Nightmare gestured around, then blinked. "Though in truth it does not look like it did when We awoke this morn."

She frowned. "One supposes that if mine sister's tyranny hath progressed this far, it behooves Us to offer sanctuary to those others who fall afoul of her ire. Attend me…?"

"Crab Apple, your highness," the earth pony supplied. "We had wondered at thy disappearance, Princess Luna…"

"Crab Apple." Nightmare nodded. "Come, then, and we shall find you an area of land to till."

There were three more pops, and two pegasi and a unicorn materialized.

"…but I said I _did!_" one of them protested. "Why ask the question if thou art going to apply the same result in any case?"

Nightmare Moon blinked. "A moment, stout Crab Apple. It seems We may need to establish an immigration desk."

* * *

Celestia let a grin cross her face. At last, she was finished.

Every single pony in Equestria, and about eighty percent of the land, had been transferred to the moon. The resultant patchwork green-blue-yellow orb overhead looked… different, but interesting – especially as Celestia had tried to arrange the teleported bits to recreate the shape of the Mare in the Moon.

_And Lulu always wanted more ponies to appreciate her. Right, now then, what shall I do?_

Celestia realized that she had, for once, managed to escape paperwork.

"_Right._ I am going to go try out surfing."

* * *

"What," Twilight said, as she finally Awoke into this version of Equestria…'s moon.

"…huh. That's actually kind of neat."

She was the student of Princess Luna, and currently taking a course at the Lunarium Academy of the Magical Sciences.

Luna was still a princess, but she wasn't a _ruling_ one. One hundred years ago, she had handed power over to an assembly of ponies electing their heads of state and of government by popular vote, and now held a purely religious role in this new lunar republic.

From what Twilight could determine, Luna didn't actually want that religious role, but when a single pony is a one-horned meteor shield they become a religious figure all over again quite quickly. And there was the occasional little smile on Luna's face when she rolled her eyes in exasperation that said her annoyance might not be quite full-blooded…

Of course, she was still on the _moon_. What had _happened?_

* * *

"Thank you, Twilight," Luna said. "I don't know why my sister sent every pony in the country to the moon for a thousand years, but if an answer can be found I'm sure you and your team will find it."

Twilight shrugged. "Good thing we managed to get Shadowbolt support through the senate, so we're not going to be going in completely alone."

"Indeed." Luna nodded. "Go well, Twilight Sparkle. And your friends."

* * *

Twilight and her team – her five friends from the original timeline, of course, as well as two Shadowbolts – flashed into existence on the pristine shoreline of Equestria.

"Okay, everypony," Twilight said. "Keep an eye out for trouble."

"Hello!" a cheery voice said. Twilight turned, and her jaw dropped in disbelief.

Princess Celestia was riding a huge curler into shore, wings beating to let her keep up an impossible angle on the crest of the wave with her surfboard.

Dash's eyes glistened. "Soooo coooool…"

With a rumbling crash, the wave finally broke, and Celestia rode the swash right up to their hooves.

"I _never_ get tired of that!" Celestia said, grinning. "Anyway. I assume you're from my sister?"

"…yeah," Twilight managed.

"Good. Here's a letter for her." Celestia passed over an elaborate envelope. "Hold on, the waves are good, I want to keep going while they're big."

Picking up the surfboard, she galloped back out to sea.

Twilight's eyes were drawn to a very familiar purple dragon, also on a surfboard.

"…has she spent the last thousand years just faffing about having a good time?" she asked incredulously. "Well, apart from hatching a baby dragon…"

Then she noticed the slip of paper hidden underneath the letter. _Hey, Twilight, I awoke really early this time!_

"Oh. Okay, then," Twilight shrugged. "Fair enough. Right, I'll teleport us back."

* * *

"That's just not fair," Luna said, grinning despite her words. "She swindled me _into_ a job."

"Well, you managed to give it to us," Twilight countered. "So you've got just as much free time now…"

* * *

AN:

And set 13. (Note: the Squeezing out the Competition Loop features a particularly late-model version of Equestria's Loops - Applebloom took a LONG time to get enough subspace pocket size to fit industrial plant.)


	14. Chapter 14

14.1

* * *

Reconciliation

* * *

"I've heard you're having some… problems?"

Applebloom spun in place, trying to ignore a sinking feeling. She recognized that voice. "Discord!?"

"Exactomundo." Discord started playing keep-up with his fang. "One, two, three… anyway, I'm not actually evil any more. For given definitions of 'not evil'… I'm not sure I've got the hand of it, to be honest."

Discord broke off his ramble for a moment, caught the fang, and used it to write on a scroll. "Was… honest. Ooh, three more times and I get a free pen!"

Applebloom blinked. Discord was a bit overwhelming at the best of times…

"Anyway. Enjoy the trip!"

He snapped his claws. Applebloom had just the time to frame the question in her mind – _what_ trip? – before the magic triggered.

* * *

Diamond Tiara began to come awake. "Nnngh… can't be time for school yet…"

As she stirred, the back of her (still very drowsy) mind began to notice things that didn't make sense. For one thing, there was sunlight beating down on her. She could feel the heat on her coat, especially on her left side.

But that didn't make sense, did it? She'd certainly gone to bed at home…

And then there was the fact that on her _right_ side, the cooler one, there was something… itchy.

She shifted position, and something gritty dug into her forelegs.

Suddenly, she realized what it was.

"Why is there sand in my bed?" Diamond asked, blinking and getting up. And seeing that, instead of her familiar bedroom, she was on some kind of beach. "Am I dreaming?"

"Nope," a _horribly_ familiar voice answered from landwards of her. Diamond spun, wobbling slightly, and saw that… as she'd thought… it was Applebloom.

"Basically," the other filly continued, "I dunno exactly why or how this happened, but we're stranded together on a desert island." Applebloom rolled her eyes. "Go team."

Diamond Tiara felt like sneering, but that was quickly subsumed by a rising wave of panic. "Stranded?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Applebloom pointed further inland. "I kinda woke up first, so ah went t' the top of the biggest hill ah could find. There ain't anythin' else ah can see – no fields, no other land, nothin'. Just sea, and this here island."

"Why? What happened? Did you do this?" Diamond felt sick. "I… I… what about school? I've _never_ been tardy!"

"We got bigger things to worry about," Applebloom pointed out firmly. Diamond resented the tone of voice – and the fact that it made her feel like an idiot – but it let her get a clamp on part of her hysteria. That just made the rest of it come to the fore, though.

"W… what do we do?" she asked quietly.

For a moment, Diamond could swear that Applebloom was gauging her with the kind of look that she was more used to getting from miss Cheerilee. Then the moment passed, and there was just the cool appraisal of another filly. Imagination painted a sneer beneath.

"Okay." Applebloom put aside her assessment of Diamond, and began pacing. "I know a bit about surviving in th' wilderness – you know, the Everfree-"

"_You_ have been in the _Everfree?_" Diamond blurted, unable to stop herself. "How? Wasn't that unicorn… Twilight something, _petrified_ last month? And if she's the student of Princess Celestia, how…"

"Huh." Applebloom's short statement carried some surprise. "I didn't know you knew that. About miss Twilight, I mean."

"_My_ father keeps me up to date on all the local ponies of importance." Diamond puffed out her breast. "It's something I should know, as a pony who'll be important herself one day."

This time, Applebloom looked very sad.

Diamond shook her head. _Can't be anything important._

"Okay, anyway," Applebloom resumed, "'cause our farm's right up next to the Everfree, ah know how to survive in there for a bit just in case ah get lost, or somethin'. But this ain't exactly the Everfree."

"Oh, well spotted," Diamond rolled _her_ eyes this time. "Sure you don't have some Buffalo blood in you?"

Applebloom looked up for a moment. "…nah, don't think so. But mah cousin's kinda interested in a buffalo girl, so might be that ah'll have one in the ol' family tree soon enough."

"…no, that was a…" Diamond sighed. "Never mind."

"Ah, I gotcha." Applebloom gave a sage nod. "Still, there's a few things ah _do_ know. Most important things are normally shelter, water an' food in that order. Here…" she looked up at the sun, burning fiercely with a midday heat which felt _wrong_ to the earth pony filly – seeing as she felt like it was only eight or so in the morning. "Ah think water's the most important."

"Well, go on then." Diamond waved. "You know this sort of thing, so go find some water."

"Yeah, about that…" Applebloom rubbed the back of her neck. "If this were the Everfree, ah'd be able to do it easy. But it ain't. And there's two of us."

"…so?" Those details seemed quite unconnected.

"Ah just plumb don't have th' _time_." Applebloom gestured around at the whole island. "In th' Everfree, ah'd know where to look for water, food, shelter, all that. But here? It might be that th' water's halfway across the island. I could _probably_ manage myself, but not both of us."

Diamond started to get a sinking feeling.

"So, we've got a problem." Applebloom nodded to her. "Well, you have the main one. Basically, y'all got a choice. Either we each look for our own needs, or we work together. And ah _do_ mean together."

Diamond Tiara knew almost exactly what 'together' meant. She'd have to do some of the backbreaking work, as much as this… _farmer_, who was much better at it anyway even if she didn't have a cutie mark for it, and even take orders _from_ her.

"No way am I working with you!" she said, suddenly coming to a decision. "You don't have a cutie mark for this, so you'll probably just screw it up!"

Part of her thought that annoying the pony who was clearly the expert around here was a very bad idea. But it was a small part, and she didn't really pay any attention.

"Aright, then." Applebloom nodded to her, in a very good imitation – good enough that Diamond had to admit she couldn't find any actual flaws in it – of court style. "Ah'll go get lookin' for mah water, then." And she turned around and trotted off.

* * *

14.2

* * *

_'Dear Princess Celestia. Since I find it very, very hard to choose between my friends – and I do not think it fair to invite a pony to a ball without also inviting their friends – I will have to decline your invitation and return my gala tickets.'_

Twilight finished writing, signed the scroll, and passed it to Spike. "Send it, please."

"Right." Spike incinerated the scroll and tickets.

"But…" Pinkie gazed at where the tickets had been, stretching out a folorn hoof. "Party?"

The unicorn shrugged. "Look, I'd rather just not go than have us fight over it…"

Spike gulped. "Uh oh… I don't feel so good… uh…"

Green flame erupted, and a wrapped package coalesced to land on the table with an almighty _thump._

As an afterthought, a scroll appeared on top of it.

Twilight picked this one up herself. "Spike… there's some throat sweets in the bathroom cabinet, third row on the left. I think you need one."

"Yeah," Spike croaked and headed off.

Twilight scanned the scroll. _'Dear Twilight Sparkle. Sorry, I wasn't thinking. Here – the Ponyville census data should be up to date, so this should be about the right number. Yours, Princess Celestia.'_

She lowered the scroll. "Pardon?"

Pinkie ripped the paper off the package. "Hey, it's hundreds of gala tickets!"

Rarity nodded. "That must be what she meant by census data. Oh, this will be marvellous!" She took two tickets and headed off to her shop. "I will have _so much _business!"

Twilight resolved to try a slightly different way of phrasing things in the future.

Though this would probably be a lot more enjoyable, actually, if the snobbish attitudes of Canterlot high society were simply buried under the entire population of Ponyville…

* * *

"Well, we'll certainly give you a try-out," Spitfire said. "I've never seen a pony that can do what you can in the air."

"Yay!" Dinky cheered, as the Ponyville mailmare accepted an application form that Soarin' passed her. "Go mum!"

* * *

"Twilight!" Applejack said, hurrying up to the unicorn. "You gotta teleport me home!"

"Why?" Twilight blinked. "I thought you were doing a roaring trade?"

"Ah ran out," Applejack said bluntly. "Now get me to somewhere ah can resupply, afore Carrot Top overtakes me!"

* * *

"Sho, anyway, enough about… about… me!" Berry said, taking another drink of the excellent vintage. "Wha' about you?"

Blueblood adjusted his tie nervously, looking for an escape route. There were other ponyville mares eying him from all directions, waiting for their chance.

* * *

"Okay, the next thing you do is you put your hooves up like this!" Pinkie said, demonstrating.

Princesses Celestia and Luna tried to copy her, wobbling slightly.

"Close enough!" Pinkie grinned. "Almost there, just three or four more steps to go, and then we try with the music!"

"What is this called?" Luna asked, steadying herself with wingbeats.

"Well, Angel Bunny and I invented it, so I call it the hare hare dance!"

Dozens of nobles looked on, most of them undergoing partial brain reboots.

* * *

"Wait," Sparkler said, casting a spell over herself and Fluttershy. "That should help. It's what I always use at Winter Wrap-Up when the animals are cranky."

"Oh." Fluttershy shuffled her hooves. "What does it do?"

"Basically, it just makes animals calmer. I know it's what your talent is supposed to do already," Sparkler shrugged, "But I don't have it, and any little helps."

* * *

Dash helped Cheerilee corral some of the colts and fillies who had started to wander off. "Hey!"

"Thank you, Dash," Cheerilee said, sighing. "They're hard enough to handle at the best of times."

"You're telling me!" Dash gasped, having just intercepted the Crusaders about to do what would have started as an attempt to get a high society cutie mark and ended as an international incident. "I'm the fastest pony in Equestria and I can't keep up! Hey, Featherweight, put down that camera!"

* * *

Spike cracked his knuckles, and sat on the piano's stool. "Right. What did you want me to play?"

Rarity frowned. "Let's see… what about the Moonlight Sonata?"

"Right." Spike ran over the music in his head. "Yeah, I know that one. You go get Cadance, I'll grab Shining Armor."

Neither of them were quite sure why they'd decided to play matchmaker, especially with ponies who'd clearly already fallen for one another. Perhaps it was just an excuse to be out of the – riotous – main room, which had been fairly annexed by the Ponyville contingent.

Or maybe it was because Rarity wanted an in with the couple to design their wedding outfits, and Spike wanted an excuse to play romantic music in the same room as Rarity.

Whatever the reason, they were both quite happy with the arrangement.

* * *

"That was the most fun I've had in a thousand years," Celestia said quite seriously, as caretakers started to clear away the detritus of the evening. "Can I invite them all again next year?"

"Well, I doubt any of them will complain," Twilight mused. "But you might have a mass boycott by the Canterlot nobility."

Celestia shrugged. "Bunch of stuck-ups anyway…"

* * *

14.1 b

* * *

Reconciliation, part two

* * *

Applebloom trotted briskly into the island's forest, looking around for anything that might be useful.

_And ah _had_ to unpack everythin' that might be useful into th' lab again…_ About all that was left in her subspace pocket – such as it was, and what there was of it – was a ream or so of paper and some pencils, as well as a mobile phone. Which would have been rather more useful if Equestria had cellular phone towers or even satellites.

She stopped, as something caught her eye. A coconut lying on the ground. Looking up, she saw the tree it had come from.

A quick, expertly measured buck, and she had a fresh coconut. A minute or so with a convenient stone, and she'd broken into it and drunk some of the 'milk' – which was a relief, given the climate.

She also now had a gourd to carry water, as and when she found it. Pity she didn't even have any _saddlebags_.

"Ah guess that's another thing t' work on…" Pushing herself back up, she took the husk of the coconut in her teeth and began carrying it awkwardly with her towards the hill.

Sure, she could store it in her subspace pocket, but that would get blatantly obvious to Diamond. And… it didn't seem fair to her, either, to make a big thing about sharing the effort and then use advantages like that.

* * *

The first stream she found was ten minutes into the forest, but it was a pitiful and muddy thing. Taking the stop as an opportunity to finish off the coconut milk, Applebloom then crouched down where a tree shaded the water somewhat and decided to test something.

One of the first things Zecora had taught her was what almost amounted to an earth magic 'spell'. It simply told the user how pure water was.

The spell was almost unbelievably primitive in nature, and took quite a lot of effort to do, but it was useful for making sure that the water you were about to use for a potion wasn't contaminated – or, for that matter, to test if the water you were about to _drink_ was potable.

As she'd expected, the test came back negative. But it was good to know that she could still pull it off.

"…kay… what do ah know about geography…" Applebloom studied the island carefully. "Right. Ah reckon that, if it rained, there'd be water… on… oh, ah'm an idiot."

Picking up the coconut again, she headed for the beach. If there was a good stream, it would of course flow into the sea… and she could follow it back up, to find where it was easily accessible.

* * *

"Stupid flies, stupid sand, stupid sun, stupid island…" Diamond Tiara muttered continuously as she trudged through the undergrowth.

Rivers just… happened, didn't they? No, that didn't make sense. She tried to remember what they'd been taught about the founding of Ponyville – why it had been set up near (though not on) a riverbank, and why the river had been dammed a decade or so later.

"…okay, I need to find a canyon. Stupid trees, stupid…"

Diamond tripped over a rock, and stumbled. There was a moment of sharp pain, but when she looked it seemed like she hadn't actually cut herself. It still felt horrible. And she was getting sweaty in this horrible heat, and she was thirsty, and there were _still_ all those insects and…

She wanted to go home.

The filly forced herself back upright. There was no way she was letting Applebloom beat _her_ at something!

* * *

"Finally." Applebloom picked up the coconut shell, and filled it from the clear water of the spring she'd just found. That would do for a while, but it would probably be best to pick up another coconut or two – and then get to making some kind of set of saddle-bags to let her go further with a water supply.

_Hmmm… perhaps more coconuts, strung on twine? Ah don't know how to _make_ twine, o' course, but… ah, I'll see if there's some vines._

Water thus taken care of, the next thing on the list was food. That was easy enough for now – more coconuts, since there were several palm trees along the beach alone. Applebloom had also seen a few grasses and quite a lot of ferns – hardly gourmet, but perfectly edible.

Shelter. That was the third thing which was important. It could get _very_ cold at night, especially out in the open – sand, in particular, lost heat within minutes. (One Loop, she and Applejack had moved to Appleloosa – the stargazing trips they'd taken were beautiful, but she'd never before known you could be shivering in the _desert!_)

_How can ah do this… palm fronds, ah guess, for a kickoff. Ah'd try knockin' down a tree, but that might have to wait until ah have a saw or somethin' to turn it into planks._

That led to her thinking about an artesian well, because the spring wasn't exactly strong. Just a trickle, really, into a thankfully large pool.

* * *

As the sun set, Applebloom stood back and looked at her work. She'd only had a few hours to really work on it, but she felt fairly proud of what she'd created.

It was, fundamentally, a lean-to. Built around the base of one of the largest trees she'd found, dozens of medium-sized branches had been piled on to a frame supported by a couple of forked ones. Using the hairy husks of the coconut to rope bits of it together with fragile ties had brought her some time to work with it, and by the time the ties had parted the accumulated weight was enough to hold the frame fairly stable.

Finally, she'd piled sand around the outer edge of the shelter, and more of it to make a simple firepit.

_Now, where's those dry bush bits ah wanted to use with a fire drill…_

* * *

About half a mile away next to the stream she'd found late in the day, cold, hungry and scared, Diamond Tiara cried herself to sleep.

* * *

14.3

* * *

"Okay," Twilight said. "This should be fun."

The other pony in the room nodded. "I've got my costume."

* * *

Twilight took a stance, all four hooves on the floor. "Ready?"

"Laughter!" Pinkie said, following the instructions of the strangely knowledgeable purple pony.

"Honesty." Applejack was a little less eager, but willing to give this Twilight the benefit of the doubt that she knew what she was doing.

"Generosity!"

"Loyalty!"

"Kindness…"

"Magic!" Twilight finished, and flared her horn.

Nightmare Moon watched, confused and worried, as six beams of light coalesced…

And out of them came a pink-purple-yellow alicorn decked out in a fuku, who kicked her in the jaw. "In the name of Harmony, you shall not trouble Equestria any more, blaggard!"

Twilight held in a snigger.

* * *

"You're sure you don't know what happened?" Celestia asked.

"No," Cadence replied, shrugging. "Poor Shiny was very worried when I collapsed, but it must have just been a faint or something."

"Perhaps…" Celestia left, and Cadence could imagine the confused thoughts running through her head.

Shining entered the room. "I don't feel comfortable lying to Celestia about something like this."

"Oh, Shiny!" Cadence fluttered her eyelashes. "No harm done, right?"

The stallion frowned, then shrugged. "I suppose."

In all honesty, he didn't know precisely what had happened – or _why_ his girlfriend had suddenly got changed into a short dress and teleported out of the room.

* * *

"…I suppose the Elements did look a _bit_ like my old foalsitter," Twilight allowed. "But it could just be that they take the form of someone familiar to me? I mean, she is who I associate with comfort and with harmony – it's her talent, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. It is…" Celestia finally shrugged. "I suppose they did work – my little sister is back, and that's what matters here."

* * *

Discord appeared in Celestia's study. "Hey, Celly! Long time no see. Oh, where are the Elements?"

"That is just the problem!" Celestia shouted, startling Discord. "I have _no_ idea. For some reason, whenever Twilight and her friends do… something, they summon a duplicate copy of my niece who kicks the problem until it is not a problem any more."

"They do, huh?" Discord asked. (Hey, he wasn't going to lose this opportunity to press Celestia for information. Especially when she apparently hadn't noticed it was him.)

"Yes! Nightmare Moon comes back – kicked in the face. Dragon causes problems in Ponyville – kicked in the chest. Rampaging hydra? Kicked in all the faces. And then there was the Ursa Minor that got kicked in the fundament." Celestia sighed. "I don't know what is going on."

Then she blinked. "Wait. Discord?"

"Thank you, come again!" Discord said, jumping out the window.

* * *

"A-ha-ha!" Discord said, holding up a grey Cadence. "I managed to corrupt the pony who was using the Elements of Harmony, and now there's nothing you pathetic ponies can do to stop me!"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "There's two problems with that. First, that's my mild mannered foalsitter, not the Elements summon. And my foalsitter's talent is, well… harmony. As in, getting on well with everyone. Reverse that, and…"

The grey Cadence kicked Discord in the teeth.

"Second, we can still perform the summoning."

She and her five friends rattled off the names of their Elements, and the by now familiar Cadence-in-a-Fuku appeared in front of them. The other Cadence promptly collapsed.

"Er…" Discord mumbled around the hand massaging his injured jaw. "This isn't going to go well for me, is it?"

"Nope!" Twilight replied cheerfully.

Admittedly, making a magical double of Cadence with the mirror pool could have gone _very_ wrong, but it did let her be in two places at once as and when they needed her to be.

And, as fuku-Cadence kicked Discord in both knees and followed up with a roundhouse kick, Twilight could just about spot Celestia on a balcony in the distance. And judging by her movements, probably tearing up her latest theory and stamping on the bits of paper.

* * *

14.1 c

* * *

Reconciliation, part three

* * *

Applebloom whistled to herself as she finished making a hole in a piece of good stone. With the branch she'd prepared for it, it would be a passable hammer…

"Applebloom," she heard a familiar voice croak.

"What is it?" she asked, turning around. "Ouch. You're a sight."

Diamond Tiara's mane was unkempt and ragged at the ends, where it hadn't held up to the night on hard ground well. There were runnels of salt down her muzzle where she'd clearly been crying. Her coat seemed matted with sweat, her colour was quite unhealthy, and she was actually trembling slightly just standing there.

"Yeah," Diamond said, not even reacting to Applebloom's comment much. "I… I…" She seemed to be struggling with something. "…help? Please?"

Applebloom blinked, surprised. Then chastised herself for that response. _She ain't a monster, and ah should remember that._ "Sure. I guess this means we're working together now?"

"Yeah." Diamond Tiara nodded jerkily. "I don't know _anything_ about this. I just… I want to go home."

Applebloom nodded. "Okay. Come with me, ah'll show y' how to find stuff. You'll have to pick your own up, but ah'll tell y' what to do."

* * *

"Right," Applebloom said, about an hour later, to a much recovered Diamond.

By kicking up water from the pool she'd found yesterday, she'd managed to give Diamond a cold shower (since having her bathe in the pool might have left it too dirty for drinking) and that followed by drying in the sun had had a considerable effect on the earth pony filly.

"Now, one of th' most useful things is these here palm trees. Y'll have had coconut at those fancy dinners o' yours?"

"Yes, I have." Diamond looked up at the tree. "But where's the coconut? Isn't it supposed to be white?"

"Only on th' inside," Applebloom replied. "And it ain't shaved, either. But the real important stuff is actually th' milk. Okay, watch me first." Backing up carefully to the tree, she kicked out at it and knocked one coconut loose. This one she let fall, and it bounced to the floor without breaking (as it was supposed to).

She scooped it up. "Okay. Think y' can do that?"

"…what, kick a tree? But…" Diamond seemed lost. "…don't you have to be very strong to do that?"

"T' do it for a living, yeah." Applebloom nodded readily. "Mah sister and brother are two o' the strongest ponies in Ponyville for that reason. But any earth pony – hay, any pony at all – can buck once or twice. Come on, ah'll spot y'all."

Seeing Diamond's reluctance, she sweetened the deal. "Since you're new, and all, you get this one as well if you knock one down. It's only fair – you ain't trained for this."

The shock on Diamond's face was followed by a flash of genuine gratitude, before it was replaced in turn by suspicion. "Is there something wrong with that one?"

"What? No!" Applebloom shook her head vigorously. "Hay, if you're worried about that ah'll let y' have one of the ones in th' stores back at th' shelter instead."

"No, I…" Diamond struggled again. "…sorry. I… Father made sure I was familiar with business practices, and… you just don't get gifts, there."

Applebloom nodded. "Ah get what y' mean. Guess they just ain't used to bein' honest."

"Suppose." For a moment, there was an actual smile. But then Diamond seemed to realize it was there, and crush it down again.

It was a start, anyway.

"Right, so first ah'll have y' do it slowly, so y' know what you're supposed to do." Applebloom reached out and supported Diamond's midriff.

"Hey! Get off!"

"If y' do it slowly, you'll just fall over unless ah spot you." Applebloom replied, using the same tone she remembered Applejack teaching _her_ with. It seemed to help, as Diamond just tried kicking out instead.

"Right, that's actually pretty good." Applebloom pushed Diamond's knees down slightly and raised the angle of her hooves. "That lets you kick the hardest. Martial arts, actually…"

* * *

"Not again!" Diamond said, scowling. Despite six or seven blows to the palm tree, it remained resolutely unbucked.

"Hmmm…" Applebloom said, frowning herself. "Your technique is fine now. Ah know what it must be – you're just not hitting hard enough."

"This is as hard as I can _do!_" Diamond whined.

"No, it ain't," Applebloom denied. "It's just as hard as y'all think y' can do. Now, ah want you to know how ah used to help mahself learn. Ah pictured th' tree as the thing ah felt th' most angry about, and ah bucked it as hard as ah possibly could, and that made me kick it harder. And th' thing is, it actually made me feel better about what ah was angry about. What is it that makes y'all angry?"

Seeing Diamond blush slightly, and deciding to not ask for now, Applebloom shook her head. "Never mind. Just imagine that palm tree is the thing that makes you angry. And you're gonna buck it so hard you'll send it flyin!"

"…aaaaAAAARGH!" Diamond let out a scream of rage, and kicked the palm tree with all her might. The force of the blow sent her mane flying in all directions, finishing the work of unravelling her original delicate hairdo, and drove her forwards as the tree bounced back. She tumbled forward in a complete somersault, landed sprawled on her back, and panted with the effort.

Applebloom whistled, walked out of her sight-line for a moment, and then came back with _four_ coconuts.

"Well, if you ain't a natural at this!" she said, grinning. "Ah said ah'd give y'all one for the one y' knocked down, and so here y' go. You got two, so here's two more."

Diamond Tiara blinked. "I… did two?"

"You sure did. Nice work, pardner!"

Diamond matched the grin. "Maybe that's why you don't have a cutie mark for it, then, if a posh filly's better at it!"

She froze, mortified. That had just… slipped out.

But Applebloom only laughed. "Good one. Ah admit, y'all have a point… anyway, here's the important bit. 'cause of that bright sun, y'all are sweatin' a lot. That's kinda salty, so y' need t' get the salt back. Now, the milk in a coconut ain't actually milk, but it's got a lot of those salts…"

* * *

"Good," Applebloom said, as Diamond dragged another branch into the area around the (now expanded) shelter. "That should do us for firewood for th' evening."

Taking two of the sharpest-tipped branches, she speared some coconut meat on each one and passed one to Diamond. "Here y' go. Don't worry, ah'll handle dinner. Y'all have earned it."

The pink filly accepted the speared coconut, and felt tears prickle in her eyes. "…_thank_ you. I'm so…"

"Nah, like ah say, y' earned it," Applebloom said, trotting off. "Now, where did ah see that Taro…"

* * *

14.4

* * *

Shining Armor woke up.

Blinking, he realized just where he was. It was… his room, back at Mom and Dad's house. But it looked… old.

Like it used to when he was… _oh._

_Twily told me about these,_ Shining thought to himself as he got up. A quick check revealed that he did indeed have his cutie mark – and there were cards on the bookshelf congratulating that fact. It must be the morning after his cute-ceneara.

_I think that makes Twily about… four? Three? Something like that._

That meant he hadn't met Cadence yet. Pity, really.

_Actually_, it meant Cadence was still a pegasus. Which really sucked, because that meant he couldn't meet her again until after she'd ascended – throwing off those delicate circumstances would be a _bad_ idea.

_Right, what was I supposed to be doing…_ he dug through his old memories. _Right. School._

* * *

"Well done, Shining!" the teacher said, reading over the essay. "Though I'm surprised you gave me five pages – I only set half a page."

"…oh, sorry," Shining rubbed the back of his neck apologetically. "I guess… yeah, I was just really interested."

Actually, he was having trouble adjusting to being a colt again. Twilight might think she was the most academically inclined of the family, and that was for the most part true… but writing? Shining wrestled Guard paperwork every loop. Compared to that, essays were nothing.

* * *

Twilight grinned, shaking her head. "Shining… I can't believe you accidentally used a spellform that hasn't been invented yet."

"Look, I said I hadn't had a loop like this before!" The colt pointed at his little sister, now about seven. "And you're one to talk! Literally. You've been this articulate since we looped in, and that was ridiculous for _four_."

"I'm a prodigy, Shiny." Twilight shrugged. "Even more now, I suppose… I think Celestia's already noticed me. Hey, when's the graduation party for your school?"

"Uhh… three weeks. I'm probably going to be top of the class," Shining said, grinning uneasily.

"I'd be disappointed if you weren't, it's only junior high," Twilight rejoined. "Anyway, here's an early present for you. It arrived yesterday."

She plucked a letter out of her schoolwork and passed it over. Shining took it, opened it, and then just stared.

He could just about hear Twilight saying something through the rushing sensation that made him feel weak-kneed with relief, but he didn't care what it was. The letter was the only important thing, right then.

_Next year, love. Next year._

_-Cadence._

* * *

"Right, you 'orrible lot!" Drill Sergeant Emery Paper shouted. "I don't want any of you wannabe Private Pansies who can't handle the pace! Thirty times around the ground at a gallop, and that's _on_ the ground for you pegasi! Move!"

Shining fell into a comfortable rhythm fairly quickly. He'd kept up his own personal regimen since he'd first turned up this Loop, out of sheer habit, and it had paid dividends – he was _very_ fit. As might be expected for a young stallion who'd trained daily since he was ten.

Actually, he finished first. Well ahead of all the other unicorns, and beating out an earth pony called Steel Resolve by about two seconds.

"Well, well…" Emery came over and looked him up and down. Taking in, in particular, the fact that Shining quickly recovered from the exertion. "Looks like you ain't just a smart-arse, cadet Armor. Does your ladyfriend like that stamina of yours?"

Shining nodded. "Yes, sir! Makes it easier for me to keep up when she goes flying, sir!"

Emery blinked, thrown off slightly. But he recovered quickly enough that only Shining's veteran eye noticed. "Glad to hear it! Now, the rest of you get the message?"

One pegasus staggered as he reached the finish, nearly collapsing from the sustained exertion of the sprint.

Emery shook his head theatrically. "Clearly not! Cadet Armor's lady friend doesn't seem to have trouble managing something you lot clearly can't keep up with!"

Shining felt dozens of death glares on him. Well, looked like he was the designated target for _this_ round of Basic…

* * *

"What's that you're working on, lieutenant?"

Shining turned, seeing that the speaker was a major, and saluted. "Sir!"

"At ease." Major Jump – High Jump, son of High Class – looked over the spell formulae scattered across Shining's table. "This looks very complex, lieutenant. I can't quite follow it myself. What's the intent?"

"Right. This here is the intent formulation – basically, it defines the target of the warding. And this one defines the sink end of the equation." Shining tapped the paper, pointing out buffers and flow directors and overflow systems. "More or less, it allows for a protective spell to be cast over a principal that deflects the effects of hostile magic spells – there's the intent filter, see – into an inanimate sink which takes the damage."

The younger unicorn shrugged. "It's still not very good, since it can't take more damage than the sink can absorb before failing and it doesn't last more than an hour or so, and it takes a prepared sink…"

"This isn't good?" Major Jump shouted, banging the table and making Shining jump. "Lieutenant, if this spell is overloaded then the pony it protects would have been severely wounded or outright killed anyway by the attack it deflects! What's the problem?"

"Well…" Shining trailed off, embarrassed. "The spell formula takes up eight pages of dense script. The only ponies I know of who can actually _cast_ the damned thing are my sister and I."

"Sister?" Jump frowned. "Oh, I know the one. Twilight Sparkle, right? That filly who's revolutionizing the academy. Yes, if it takes that kind of ability to pull off I can see why it would be a problem. You're trying to simplify it down, then?"

"Yes, sir." Shining nodded smartly.

"Good stallion. Keep at it. And I'll expect to see you and your girlfriend at the party my wife's setting up next week, as well – I'll want an update." Jump tapped his forehead and trotted off.

* * *

"I forgot how much effort this whole thing was," Shining said, shaking his head. He'd just received the information that he was to be promoted to captain – and even with all his foreknowledge, he'd only shaved about a year off the total time.

Cadence shrugged. She'd avoided ascending this time, claiming that it would be 'interesting' to stay as a pegasus for once. "Well, you were very good the first time around, dear."

"Suppose. Oh, Twilight reminded me that Nightmare Moon's return is scheduled for next week. What do you say we go and watch?"

"Sounds good to me," Cadence said. "What's she planning this time?"

"Actually, she wanted my help. I wonder why…" Shining trailed off.

* * *

"Twilight," Cadence said, "This is just cruel." She was giggling, though – the sight before them was just too funny.

Twilight shrugged. "I'm thinking of making an artefact that casts this spell when triggered, actually. You up for that, Shining?"

Shining nodded. "Why not."

In front of them, Nightmare Moon tried desperately to retain either dignity or threat level. It was difficult, because she was trapped inside a giant pink shield that rolled around like a hamster ball.

* * *

14.1d

* * *

Reconciliation, part four

* * *

"Diamond," Applebloom said sharply, "Ah think it'd be best if you saw this."

Diamond Tiara hurried over. The week or so they'd spent on the island had been wearying for her, but she'd gained no lack of respect for Applebloom's practical skills. Anything which worried her was probably cause for alarm.

"What is it?"

"Well, ah don't have a weather forecastin' cutie mark," Applebloom said, deadpan, and Diamond held back a giggle, "but that don't look good." The engineer and Looper nodded to the east, where clouds were gathering on the horizon.

"So? It's just a storm, right?" Diamond asked.

"Yeah, it's a storm," Applebloom agreed readily. "And no, it ain't _just_ a storm. They ain't scheduled out here, there ain't a team of pegasi watchin' it to make sure it's safe, and we ain't got much of a shelter against that kinda winds."

"…oh. Sorry," Diamond said. "I just… yeah, you know."

"No sweat." Applebloom thought for a moment. "Ah think it might be a good idea for us to look for a cave, or somethin'. Either that or a big ol' tree which is good and sturdy."

"Right." The pink filly nodded. "I'll look on the north side, you take the south."

"Fine by me." Applebloom paused. "You know how to check if a tree's after bein' sturdy?"

"No…" Diamond said, drawing the word out. "But I _do _recognize what a cave looks like, and what a tree looks like. And – gosh! – I can even recognize the difference between a big tree and a small one. So I'll find the ones for you to check."

This time, it was Applebloom who chuckled. "Alright, you got me."

* * *

"Hmmm…" Applebloom said, looking the large fallen Monkeypod tree. It still had earth on the exposed roots and hadn't rotted away at all, so presumably it hadn't fallen too long ago. "Yeah, this might actually be better than an intact one."

"Good." Diamond's voice had nothing but relief. "I thought it might be, but I didn't know if that was a good idea, and…"

"Well, you're right." Applebloom started looking around. "If we use some big logs, or maybe fell another tree so the canopy is a kinda umbrella…" she paused. "Tell you what. Can you go get some more coconuts, and make sure all the ones we got which we use for water are full, and bring 'em up here? Except two. Leave them by th' firepit, because ah think it might be a good idea fer us to get ourselves around a hot meal before the storm comes."

"That sounds like a good idea." Diamond waited for a moment, then set off.

"Well, ah knew she _could_ rise to it, but ah'm still surprised she _did_," Applebloom said to herself. "And ah shouldn't be."

Applebloom had been careful to keep in mind what her unexpected companion could and could not do so far, and never set her a challenge she couldn't do. Granted, a couple of times at least she'd _thought_ she couldn't do something, but after enough prodding she gave it a try – and promptly proved herself wrong.

Watching her, the farmpony-in-training had been struck by a realization.

Diamond Tiara, loud-mouthed spoiled bully that she was, wasn't actually very self confident. Oh, she _seemed _it, and probably even _felt _like it, but her obvious surprise at being able to do the tasks Applebloom set her told its own story.

And she'd been _so_ proud of anything she and 'bloom had built together, it was almost heartbreaking.

_Guess that comes of having everything done for you… you start to think you can't do it yourself…_

Applebloom had been analyzing the trees while she thought. Selecting a breadfruit tree, she gave it an almighty buck – which sent it crashing down, the bulk of the foliage on top of the fallen trunk but with a substantial amount over the area she'd selected to be their 'cave'. A second, this one some kind of ash, finished the job.

"It ain't perfect, but it'll do," she said with satisfaction. "Now, ah'd better get some vine, too, for ropes to tie the branches together…"

* * *

Diamond Tiara huddled next to a pony that, only a little more than a week ago, she wouldn't have been seen dead with.

_That might still be an option_, she thought. _No. Shut up._

"Hey, Applebloom?" she asked, shakily. "You heard how the wind's always the best part, right?"

Applebloom chuckled. "Yep. And ah heard when you said the waitin' was the best part, and ah bet in ten minutes you'll say the rain's the best part."

"Oh, no, you worked out my cunning plan." Diamond paused. "How did you manage to make the soup? What did you cook it in?"

Both of them knew what Diamond was doing – trying to distract them from the storm. But it was nice to pretend they didn't.

"Okay, this is actually kinda neat," Applebloom said. "You know how you heat up water and then it boils?"

"I have noticed. Once or twice." Diamond Tiara's sarcasm was almost a physical object, no matter how brittle her voice was.

"Good. Well, don't know if you know _this_ bit, but things have to heat up to burn too. It ain't enough for them to be held in a fire. So, paper burns a lot easier than wood does."

There was an almighty _crash_ from outside, and both fillies jumped.

"Really makes one appreciate pegasi," Diamond said shakily.

"Yep," Applebloom agreed. "Anyway, as ah was sayin', ah cooked it in a coconut. The coconut had to get so hot to catch fire that it couldn't do that when there was water right next to it – the water would get to boilin' long before the coconut would get to burnin'."

"Wow." Diamond blinked. "That _is_ neat. Why doesn't Cheerilee ever teach us about that?"

"'cuz if she gave us access to fire, then me and Sweetie and Scoots would probably burn the Everfree down," Applebloom deadpanned.

Mention of the other two Crusaders wounded the conversation severely, but it wasn't more than another thirty seconds before Diamond Tiara got it going again with another question. "What about the hair?"

"The coconut hair?" Applebloom grinned uneasily. "Well, see, ah kinda ruined the first batch, 'cuz ah forgot to take the husk off…"

Despite – or perhaps because of – the tenseness of the situation, Diamond Tiara giggled. That turned into a shriek when a lightning bolt struck _very_ near by.

"Y' know, you probably saved mah life," Applebloom said, into the relative stillness. "Ah was all for hidin' under a tree, and ah think they're supposed to either fall over or explode if they get hit. But this tree ain't the tallest around, not any more, so it ain't gonna get struck."

"Heh… does this mean I owe you less?" Diamond asked, still shivering. She felt Applebloom move closer, until they were touching.

"There ain't any question of who owes who, Diamond," Applebloom said. "We work together, and we stay alive."

* * *

The storm blew itself past them overnight. Exhausted, wet and emotionally drained, the two fillies fell asleep once the wind dropped and woke nearly at midday.

The island – the one they'd started to think of as 'their' island – was an incredible mess. Trees were bereft of limbs, small floods had cut muddy incisions into the surface soil, and their beach-shelter had been carried away by the winds. The whole beach was covered with driftwood.

"So much for a week o' work," Applebloom sighed. "Ah well. At least we got more wood to work with-"

There was a sudden explosion of light, nearly overhead.

"What's that?" Diamond Tiara asked, squinting into the sky.

Applebloom laughed, beating her hooves on the floor and then started dancing – not very well, of course. "Woo-hoo!"

"What is it!?" the other filly insisted.

"That's a sonic rainboom!" Applebloom said, grinning fiercely. "There's only one pony who can do one o' those!"

A purple flash appeared a few hundred yards down the beach.

"Applebloom? Diamond Tiara? Wonderful!" Twilight shouted, galloping over. "Oh, I'm so sorry it took so long for us to find you!"

"Well, ah could wish y'all had turned up sooner," Applebloom said, still grinning with the euphoria of being finally rescued. "But it weren't all that bad, 'cept for the first day and the last."

"Yes, we saw the storm." Twilight winced. "Must have been terrible."

"Diamond here found us a place to ride it out," Applebloom said, nodding towards her. Said pink filly started at being addressed, looking a bit overwhelmed.

Rainbow Dash landed next to Twilight. "Okay, I told the crew where we are. They should turn up by evening."

"Crew?" Applebloom asked.

"Yeah." Twilight nodded. "I forgot to mention – Filthy Rich hired a zeppelin to help with the search. Dash and I have been using it to quarter the entire ocean, once Discord finally told us he put you on a desert island."

"Pity you didn't manage to get him to say which one…" the young Apple groused.

Diamond Tiara was nearly speechless. "Father hired a _Zeppelin?_"

"Yep!" Dash nodded. "He really _is _filthy rich, isn't he? Hay, the Wonderbolts volunteered to help, too. It was just luck that I was on the south-flank sweep today."

Twilight eyed the two fillies, but said nothing about their unusual lack of friction. "Okay, want to show us around? We've got about four or five hours until _Jack of all trades_ is within easy teleport range – I was pushing it a bit with that one…"

Applebloom knew that was a flat lie, given that this was the Looping Twilight (as always), but didn't press it. "Okay. Hey, Diamond, you found where we stayed last night, you show 'em."

"O…okay." Diamond looked around for a moment, getting her bearings. "Right. This way."

* * *

"Hey, Diamond, you got a moment?" Applebloom asked.

The filly looked up. It was their third day back in Ponyville, and the first day back at school (the first had been consumed with reunions and the second with a combination of the press and medical checkups).

"Uh…" for a moment, Diamond's eyes flicked over to Silver Spoon, next to her.

Applebloom held her breath.

"Yeah." Diamond got up. "Hang on a minute, Silver."

"Sure." Silver Spoon nodded.

* * *

"Okay. There's something ah didn't tell you," Applebloom said, once they were in a fairly out of the way corner. "This… is kinda hard to explain. Twilight does it better. Basically, ah'm one of a load of ponies in a time loop. Every few years, we go back to the day before that Summer Sun celebration where Nightmare Moon turned up. Not all of us always turn up, and ah'm one of them – Twilight's the one who always does this…"

"So… we've been through this before?" Diamond asked, eyes widening.

Before she could decide what to feel, Applebloom waved her hooves. "No! The whole desert island thing, that ain't never happened before. And ah'm going t' try to make sure it ain't never going to happen again."

"…do you mean it happens all the time, or…?"

"No, that's just me bein' a farmgirl." Applebloom scratched the back of her head. "Anyway, I just… wanted to let you know. It don't feel right, keepin' secrets from y'all after that."

"…I kind of have one too, then." Diamond swallowed. "When you told me to imagine the tree was the thing I was the most annoyed with? It was, er, you and the other bl- the other crusaders."

Applebloom laughed. "That's all? Ah kinda guessed it might be!" The laughter died down. "But thanks for tellin' me."

"That's okay." Diamond smiled. "And thank you for telling me. Er… am I a… a bitch, in the other loops?"

"Kinda, yeah." Applebloom nodded. "Ah ain't gonna lie. But it actually ain't all that surprisin', cause you're ten and ah'm… lots." She then looked around and whispered to the other filly. "It ain't the first time you've saved mah life, either. It seems like whenever you're in one o' these loops and it goes strange, you're actually kinda awesome."

Then the Apple gave a shrug. "Still a bitch… but an awesome bitch."

Diamond broke out laughing herself. After she'd managed to push it back to giggles, she said "well, if that's the best I can get…"

Applebloom grinned. "Hay, I dunno. There was this one time you were a magical filly warrior…"

"Do you have pictures?" Diamond asked. Then frowned. "But… next time, I… oh, I wish I knew how to make it so I didn't act so nastily to you."

Suddenly she gasped. "Wait, I know! It might work, anyway."

"What's that?" Applebloom asked.

"You know… _loads _of stuff from these loops, right? Make a business deal with my father, some time shortly after the Summer Sun celebration. It's about two weeks after Nightmare Moon's return that Father started walking me through our business partners and why they are what they are, so…" Diamond shrugged. "Best I can do, I think."

"…that might just be the best gift y' could have given me, if it works," Applebloom said. "Ah don't want to have you as an enemy, in any life. Friends are much nicer."

"Yeah," Diamond replied, nodding. "They are. Sorry I didn't know that before."

* * *

14.5

* * *

"Goodness," Princess Rarity said, looking around. "So _this_ is what the Discordian era looked like. I have to say, he didn't have much of a sense of style back then…"

Princess Twilight Sparkle nodded. "Maybe it took him over a thousand years in a statue to think of good jokes?"

"Possibly. Right, what happens now?"

Twilight gestured to the other four elements. "Pick two, we have to use three each to do the sealing."

"Do we _have_ to? I mean, can't we just talk it out?"

"Nope," Twilight shook her head. "Fluttershy tried. It just… didn't work. He's not got the perspective being defeated can give you."

"Right." Rarity looked the elements over. "I pick… Kindness and Laughter."

"Okay." Twilight paused. "Why?"

"Because that way they are colour coordinated." Rarity looked offended that Twilight even had to ask. "Alright, how do I put these on?"

"Wings. Sorry, I never worked out a better way." Twilight levitated the Loyalty and Honesty necklaces over her own wings, fastening them at the base.

Visibly cringing, Rarity followed suit. "This looks dreadful."

"It's Discord, he won't mind." Twilight shrugged.

"Yes, but I _do_…"

* * *

"Look, Rarity," Twilight said warily. "I'm just giving you a warning. Dash, Fluttershy and Applejack all overdid something massively when it was their turn with me in this loop variant, so…"

"Oh, you worry too much," Rarity replied. "Anyway, I have some political manoeuvring to get done. Remember? We agreed you got the natural world and I got the work of civilization."

"True…" Twilight nodded. "But I'm still… oh, maybe it _is_ nothing."

* * *

Princess Rarity paced back and forth. "I don't understand it! No matter how fabulous, ornate, utilitarian or subdued the clothes I create, the griffins don't like them! We're running a heavy trade deficit… I must find _something_ that they like!"

Her problem could be summed up with the fact that most supplies of cotton and silk came from the Griffin Lands. Since they had claws, as opposed to hooves, it was much easier for them to make fine cloth.

"Hmmm… oh, this is so frustrating!"

* * *

Twilight blinked. "Okay, explain that again."

"So, we were running a trade deficit with the griffins," Rarity began.

"I got that bit."

"I discovered that the one product that we make which griffins are willing to purchase is our range of magical items."

"Okay…" Twilight pressed. "And how did you get from that to _invading their country?_"

"I'm… not entirely sure," Rarity said, frowning. "But it involved catnip at some point in the process. Possibly we started selling it to them, I'm not sure."

"So." Twilight massaged her temples. "You _personally_ invaded the Griffin Lands, overthrew their government, seized their entire supply of fabric for the last three years and went on a month-long bender making dresses."

"That about sums it up," Rarity nodded.

"Right. Sorry, but you're probably going to have to head to the moon. Quite apart from anything else, we need to salvage Equestria's international reputation – and that means making it clear you weren't acting according to official policy. At least you didn't take the army."

Rarity raised a hoof, then sighed. "Alright, Twilight. Sorry, it looks like I _did_ go over the top."

"Yeah, you think?" Twilight asked sarcastically. "Look, I'll send you up some supplies or something. Make it a yearly event."

"Alright." Rarity frowned. "But they'll get so dusty if I just leave them there… perhaps I should send what I make back down again?"

"Why not." Twilight lifted up a calendar. "I think 'Charity Day' would work. The rich donate, the poor get the clothes."

"Sounds good to me." Rarity looked a bit more chipper. "Alright. See you in a millennium."

* * *

"Sorry?" Celestia asked. "You want me to _what?_"

"I want you and your sister to go dig Princess Rarity out," Twilight repeated. "Since she may be a little… obsessed, after that long on the moon, you may need to find ponies who can operate the Elements of Harmony. Perhaps those friends Luna's made in Ponyville?"

"Alright…" Celestia said, dubiously. "But why dig her out?"

"Off-cuts," Twilight answered. "A thousand years of accumulated off-cuts from a thousand years of Charity Days."

The power-spell specialist unicorn left, still looking a bit flabbergasted.

"It'll be nice to see her again," Spike said. "I didn't know she'd ascended too."

"It was only last Loop," Twilight explained. "I think this is the first time someone aside from me and the newest alicorn has been awake in one of these, actually."

"Neat. And, uh, thanks for hatching me so early."

Twilight nodded. She'd hatched Spike's egg personally the minute it turned up, meaning that the dragon was about thirty now and a well-known sight around the palace.

* * *

14.6

* * *

"Hey, you've got a blank flank!" Diamond Tiara shouted into the stillness of the cute-caneara, pointing at Applebloom's exposed side.

Applebloom winced. Not again-

"No fair!"

-wait, _what?_

The other ponies were looking at Diamond Tiara with equal confusion.

"Well, she could have a talent in _anything_! Hay, I don't even know _what_ mine means…" Diamond indicated her own cutie mark. "I mean, what does that mean? I'm good at wearing jewellery?" Her tiara slipped down slightly. "Guess not…"

There were giggles, and Applebloom watched in shock as Diamond Tiara proceeded to joke about every cutie mark in the room.

When she got around to Applebloom, Diamond winked, and whispered "Gotcha there, Applebloom!"

"Wait, are you-"

Diamond nodded, and winked again. "Lucky you, huh?"

* * *

AN: Reconciliation is something that's been simmering for a while. I actually think that, stripped of time loop references, it could make a fair short fic in and of itself...

Also, that's Rarity's "Sisters" Loop done.


	15. Chapter 15

15.1 (expanded by Filraen)

* * *

Rainbow Dash awoke lying down in a cloud over Ponyville. The sun was warm and the wind soft so instead of checking through her loop memories, apparently too much work for now, she lazily decided to check which other ponies were Awake. Feeling the connection to the Element of Loyalty she realized everypony was-

_Pain._

_Sorrow._

_Hurt._

_Desolation._

_Grief._

One of her friends was in pain. It couldn't be a physical feeling, because no physical injury would hurt so deeply or cause sadness so deep. _One of her friends needed her._ The response from the Element of Loyalty was as automatic as breathing: making a Sonic Rainboom from her lying position she flew in a direct line towards the source of this feeling. It was only moments later, only because she realized she was going to crash into her friends arriving at the front door, when she realized she was heading straight to the library.

She managed to dodge them, though the library now had a Rainbow Dash shaped hole in a wall and had a few bookshelves that had to be organized, but it was all right as she could see Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy…

"You all right, Rainbow?" Applejack asked, pushing some books off her.

Twilight.

"Yeah, AJ." Rainbow stood up and looked to her friends "Must be Twilight."

Noting how Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were already going into the next room Applejack nodded once and then pointed to them "Come on, let's hurry."

* * *

Fluttershy was glad all she and all her friends were awake this loop. She was sure none of them would have forgiven themselves if they were unable to do anything for Twilight because of not being awake, even if she'd have preferred Rainbow not making another door in Twilight's house. But that barely mattered as they went to the bedroom, to meet Twilight Sparkle crying on her bed hugging a photo frame.

"Er… Twilight," Fluttershy blinked, "what's the matter?"

Leaving the frame on the bed Twilight spread her hooves. Recognizing the signs of a recent bad experience, the others crowded around her to give her a group hug. To Applejack's surprise, Twilight started really wailing this time. Not just the confusion or sadness from one or other of the strange loops… this was a deeply personal grief. As time passed and the sun set she could feel the pain receding, if only slightly.

Eventually Twilight hiccupped to a stop. "Okay… sorry, guys. This was just…" a sniffle. "I hate this."

"Bad Loop?" Dash asked. "How bad could it be?"

"No, not bad." Twilight shook her head. "In many ways it was the complete opposite. Okay, basically, I was the only one there, and it was fairly close to our prime loop." she broke off to sniffle again. "I thought it was just like baseline Equestria, actually, and I was planning on something to do with the – with Sombra, so I let things happen. But I got… attacked, by some kind of cult who wanted to resurrect Nightmare Moon."

"That doesn't sound much like Equestria…" Applejack muttered. "All the cults ah ever heard of turned into fan clubs when the relevant god or alicorn turned back up."

"Yeah, there's a reason this one was different." Twilight sniffed. "But, basically, it was successful and really wrong at the same time. They got Nightmare Moon back, alright… but about Apple Bloom's age, with no memory of her past life and _not evil_.

"I just…" Twilight shook her head. "I let my guard down. I was stupid, really. I know we – all Loopers – are prevented from having children by Yggdrasil, but I forgot why."

Fluttershy felt a sinking feeling inside her when she realized what she would have done in Twilight's case. If this filly was a reincarnation from Nightmare Moon she would have been received so much rejection from many ponies, and if she really didn't have any memories from her time as Nightmare Moon, if she really wasn't evil, if this really was the chance to redeem the corruption on Princess Luna…

"You adopted her, I bet!" Pinkie said, as if completing Fluttershy's thoughts, then her face fell. "Oh, Twilight…"

"Yeah," Twilight croaked, taking the frame photo on her bed and showing the photo -of her and a black filly alicorn- to her friends. "After all, if she really was a threat, Nightmare Moon was still weak so it was supposed to be safe. So I called her Nyx, and… and she was dear to me as anyone I've ever known. And…"

Twilight didn't finish. Everypony there felt her pain of what happened. One moment, Nyx was there… and the next, gone as if she'd never existed, and to never exist again.

"Anyway," Twilight forced herself back up, "I don't really feel like dealing with Nightmare Moon this time… can you girls handle it?"

Rarity pondered. "Probably. Can I borrow the Element of Magic?" Twilight wordlessly took it from her subspace pocket and placed it on Rarity's head. "We won't be subtle, though."

* * *

15.2 (Another Kind of Magic fused loop)

* * *

"Trixie is confused."

"Yes, I know." Twilight looked over. "Remember I mentioned the loops? Sometimes they do strange things like this."

"It is just Trixie's luck that her first proper one is so unusual." Trixie frowned, then her eyes widened. "Wow. Tri-I mean, _I_, have a whole new set of memories?"

"Yeah, those happen too," Twilight said casually. "Apparently we're sisters in all but name here. Neat."

"So…" Trixie grinned. "This is actually quite fun. Apparently that dragon of yours rather prefers me over you."

"Well, Spike isn't mine, or yours. He's his own being… we just pay him." Twilight shrugged. "Actually, though… here's the deal. I won't get involved this Loop."

"In what?" Trixie frowned.

"Well, I'll still do all the library stuff, and so on. And help you out with learning more magic… but I won't take the Element of Magic this time. It's your turn." Twilight grinned. "Consider it a final exam."

"What?" Trixie's jaw dropped. "I can't… I mean… you're ridiculously skilled at magic! How could I be worthy of it if you-"

Twilight chuckled. "It's sometimes hard to get the hang of just what the time loops mean, isn't it? I've been Looping for a _long_ time, Trixie. I'm not much like the introverted scholar who first went to Ponyville. In fact, you might find it easier making friends than I did. Just…" she made an indefinable gesture. "Make sure to be more like the Trixie that you became after Ponyille, not… before."

"You do not need to tell Trixie twice…" the blue-coated unicorn muttered. "And why do I remember your brother being very unfair to me?"

Twilight scanned her own Loop memories. "That would be because this version of you likes setting off homemade explosives. Hey, look!" She opened a chest and brought out a scroll. "Twilight Sparkle's five step checklist for when Trixie Lulamoon has access to explosives."

Trixie snatched it from her. "Stage four: duck and cover? And stage five is how to fill out an incident report for the Guard!"

"Guess this version of me really knows you well," Twilight teased.

* * *

"Okay, well done," Twilight said, as Trixie climbed into bed in the library after a long day of celebration, for the return and purification of Princess Luna. "But… what did you say you did to Nightmare Moon?"

Trixie paused, adjusting the covers. "Uhh… a flashbang spell that blinded her long enough for me to retrieve the elements, then I threw an anvil at her, launched a firework bigger than my entire body and blew half the castle wall off, then dropped the ceiling on her. After that I used a triple-detonation spell, an accurately kicked rock, an attracting point, and was about to start working up one of those Force Burst spells you taught me when the others arrived."

"…wow, overconfident much?" Twilight managed.

"Actually, no," Trixie flourished her hat. "Part of my talent _is_ knowing how to trick a crowd – and so I launched a combination of highly pyrotechnical attacks mixed in with ridiculous cheap shots. It kept her off balance for long enough that the others could turn up, but I didn't think I could actually beat her."

"No, for direct combat I usually have to use alicorn mode," Twilight confirmed.

Trixie stared at her. "You have to use _what?_"

"…I'll explain later."

* * *

15.3

* * *

"Hmmm…" Twilight paged through a book on Zebra potion making. "I wonder how that would work…"

* * *

Chrysalis looked over the pilfered map from the Canterlot guardhouses, and sent approval to the changeling who had stolen it. "Good, good. Not too much longer before we can strike…"

There was a purple flash overhead.

_Intruder!_ jangled through the empathic Changeling network, alerting the guards and sending them soaring into the air in their hundreds.

By the time they reached the place the flash had occurred, however, there was nothing there. Not even on their empathic senses.

Just a bottle, which said 'open'.

The changelings conferred amongst themselves, deciding to let their queen handle it. Accordingly, one of them picked it up – and it slipped out of his hooves.

_Good going, Murphy…_ every other changeling in the hive thought at once.

Then the bottle smashed on the hive floor.

* * *

"Right," Twilight said, adjusting her binoculars. "Potion bottle applied to changeling hive. Bottle has been dropped, potion release anticipated at ten-twenty-three and fourteen seconds."

The magic-crystal recorder next to her took down every word.

Then there was an almighty green flash and she was standing in Paradise Valley.

"…oh, buck," Twilight muttered. "Experiment conclusion: Love Poison applied to changelings results in explosive positive feedback. Not recommended."

She let out a long sigh. "Now I have to endure a Loop where Rainbow Dash dresses in style. Again."

* * *

15.4

* * *

"Does any pony dare to challenge Trixie?"

Twilight had a slight smile on her face. This was Trixie's first 'baseline' loop, so it would be interesting to see how she handled it…

This time, Applejack went first. She spun her lasso, demonstrating a most impressive grasp of how to handle a rope and how to make the practised little flips that would cause it to change direction seemingly out of nowhere.

Trixie nodded. "So, your weapon is a lasso. Interesting." Trixie's horn lit, and she unfolded the back half of her wagon to make a larger, square stage. "First fall, first contact or surrender?"

Applejack blinked. "What?"

"Well, Trixie _did_ say challenge…" Trixie shrugged. "Trixie thought a battle would be more impressive."

Twilight frowned. This had the potential to go wrong…

* * *

Within five minutes, though, she saw that Trixie had judged right.

Though it had the trappings of a duel or combat challenge, it was actually a bit more like a presentation match. Applejack used her lasso to try and catch Trixie, who evaded – barely, on many occasions – with fancy hoofwork or teleports. Trixie replied with a series of low-power spells, many of which Applejack blocked with the rope of the lasso itself and the rest of which just about missed.

Overall, the effect was of a pair of closely matched and fast-thinking pair of ponies having a fun and entirely non-lethal 'fight'. Trixie even came off worst, Applejack's lasso coiling around her tail as she dodged and pulling her backwards before she managed to teleport out.

A bell dinged as Trixie skidded to a stop from a shield-blocked buck. "Right, time is up."

Applejack stopped twirling her lasso, confused.

The showmare trotted over to her and shook her hoof. "Trixie is most impressed. Good match."

Applause broke out.

* * *

After Dash had demonstrated her own skills, Trixie pondered for a moment. "Hmm… well, Trixie can't fly. So no luck there. A race?"

"Sure!" Dash replied, grinning. "What rules do you want to use?"

Trixie held up a convenient book. "What about Canterlot rules, third revision, to the outskirts of the town and back?"

Dash took the book, skimmed it for a bit and nodded. "Yeah! If you think you can beat me!"

"On the starting blocks," Trixie rejoined. "Put your muscles where your mouth is."

At the 'go', the pegasus shot off at high speed. Trixie ran after her, and then vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Hey!" someone shouted.

"That can't be fair!" another pony said.

Trixie materialized back on stage and crossed the finish line, then looked nonplussed at the booing coming from the crowd. "Oh, what is it now?"

Twilight walked over, having worked out what was going on. "You did say Canterlot rules third revision, right?"

"Yes." Trixie nodded. "The ones which allow teleportation."

"No, that's second. Third only permits non-cast magic." Twilight pointed to the relevant line in the book.

Trixie blinked. Blinked again, slowly and theatrically. "…oh. Oopsie…"

The booing turned to giggles.

"Oh, shut up!" Trixie said to the crowd, stamping a hoof foalishly. Her hat fell off. "Any pony could have done it!"

Dash shout out of the sky, panting. "Okay, I guess you beat me. How the hay are you that fast?"

More giggles.

"…did I miss something?"

* * *

After that, several more ponies tried their hoof at challenging Trixie to something. Several of them lost, more of them won, and Trixie usually either made them look good or made herself look the fool, or more often both.

Though Derpy's trick, which involved a Klein bottle, just let her to scratch her head and give up.

Finally, she challenged Twilight directly. This time, she let Twilight pick the form of the challenge.

Twilight mused for a moment, and decided.

Tennis. With fireballs.

It was already fairly impressive when there was one fireball going. It was a lot more so when, on an unseen signal, both Trixie and Twilight lobbed another fireball each into the air. And when there were no fewer than fifteen fireballs going back and forth, it started to become obvious that there wasn't going to be a quick winner in this challenge.

After about ten minutes, Twilight called a halt. "I think we'll call that a draw."

"Indeed," Trixie said, panting a lot more than Twilight was. But then, she'd been on the go all afternoon. "Good game, Twilight Sparkle."

Trixie gave her a bow, then extended that to her whole audience and many challengers. "And Trixie hopes you have enjoyed the show!"

Fireworks went soaring into the air.

* * *

"Well?" Trixie asked, that evening in the Books and Branches. "How was that?"

Then she frowned. "Though I wonder where you put that chair I brought from Canterlot when we moved…"

"That was last Loop, it didn't happen in this Equestria," Twilight reminded her. "I know it's tricky to keep track. And yes, I'm very impressed with how mature you were."

"It _was_ hard," Trixie admitted. "But at least this time there hopefully won't be an Ursa attack."

Something roared in the distance.

"…oh, you are kidding me." Trixie sighed, and picked her hat up off the floor. "Can I count on your help?"

"Sure." Twilight headed for the door. "And yeah, this might not happen _every_ time, but it happens _far_ too often."

* * *

15.5

* * *

"Hi, Matilda!" Pinkie said cheerfully, mentally crossing her hooves. "What brings you into town today?"

"Ah, hello, Pinkie." Matilda nodded to her. "It's good to see you. Well, actually, I wanted to buy some carrots and flour. I plan to make a carrot cake."

"Oh, neat!" Pinkie's smile lit up the square. "I know a Carrot Cake! Well, a different kind of carrot cake… anyway, I know how to make an edible carrot cake too! Hold on a minute, I've got a special recipe!"

Pinkie hurried back into the shop and started looking, half her mind counting. _Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen…_

On 'twenty-three', she bounced back out again with the recipe and handed it to Matilda. "Here you go! I'm afraid it needs to have a _few_ things that aren't on a normal carrot cake recipe, but I know just where to get them. Applejack's stall started having a sideline in oranges recently, so you can ask for orange peel there – or just whole oranges and eat the rest, if you want to be daring." Pinkie giggled. "And the raisins are sold over there, by Sour Grapes."

"Is he… sour?" Matilda asked.

"Nah, he's really sweet. But Sweet Grapes isn't as funny so he wasn't called that." Pinkie shrugged.

"Okay. Thank you, Pinkie." Matilda picked up the flour that Pinkie had put on the table when she wasn't looking and paid for it. Pinkie's gaze alternated between Matilda and the other side of the square.

"Oh, did you hear the one about the bats?" Pinkie suddenly said.

"No, I didn't," Matilda replied politely.

"Neither did I, but I bet they did." Pinkie huffed. "Bats hear all the best jokes. Stupid ears…"

The donkey giggled. "Ah, Pinkie, you always surprise me. Well, thank you again!"

"No problem!" Pinkie smiled, then started handling the next customer. _That joke should have just about done it…_

There was a commotion across the square as Lyra stepped up to the counter.

_Yes!_ "Excuse me," Pinkie asked the green unicorn, and shot over there.

Two shoppers had collided, as one of them wasn't looking where he was going. Pinkie helped both of them up, babbling something about how if they'd bumped together closer to a bush she could have helped them with any boo-boos, because she had medical kits hidden all around Ponyville in case of… well, emergency.

"Oh, sorry," Pinkie said, "where are my manners! I'm Pinkie Pie, and this is Matilda. Who are you?"

"Cranky Doodle. And-" the donkey froze. Pointed at who he'd bumped into. "I remember you."

Matilda gasped.

Pinke gave them some space. She wasn't the kind of pony who would interrupt a happy reunion.

But she'd have to get permission to organize a _carnival_ after this. There was party going to waste!

* * *

15.6 (Elmagnifico)

* * *

The door to the Sweet Apple Acres farmhouse creaked on hinges that honestly ought to be oiled at some point. Applejack made a note to ask her sister to do it in the morning, then looked to the reason for her door-opening.

Twilight Sparkle stood on the threshold, her hair distorted in unkempt disarray, framing bloodshot eyes underscored by black circles. Applejack looked askance at her friend as the purple unicorn stood in the light shed from the doorway, a slice of brightness against Luna's backdrop… and left eyelid twitching.

"Can ah help ya, Twilight?" the farmpony asked, with some trepidation.

Purple eyes moved, shifting from gazing into empty space to fixate on Applejack.

"I finally figured it out."

One of Applejack's eyebrows quirked.

"Figured what out, Twi?"

The manic grin never faltered even as the unicorn it belonged to spouted exposition.

"Why nothing seems to go wrong anymore. I told myself I'd let this loop develop naturally, but something keeps changing it."

Applejack's quirked eyebrow shifted to meet its counterpart, shifting from curiosity to skepticism.

"Beg pardon?"

"I think it started just after we defeated Nightmare Moon. Remember how Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie Pie pestered me about going to the Grand Galloping Gala?"

Applejack nodded. "Yep. Took y'all pretty much the entire day to get them to lay off ya before th' Princess sent ya more tickets."

A purple eyelid twitched.

"Indeed. But you ALL were supposed to be obsessed with going."

A hoarse voice interrupted Twilight's tirade and caused Applejack to divide her attention momentarily. "Applejack, who is it?"

"It's Twilight, but she don't seem right in the head."

"Course she ain't. Ye've kept th' poor thing on th' doorstep for a while now, invite her in!" Granny Smith said with assurance.

"Right, Granny. Why don't ya come in, Twilight, and explain around the fire?"

Violet bangs rippled back and forth as Twilight Sparkle's head shook in response, and she continued.

"It's happened other times. Fluttershy for instance. When we went to confront that dragon that was blotting out the sun, she grew the confidence to pull through almost a quarter of the way up the mountain. She was meant to not overcome her fears until she was at the top. Mayor Mare knew to put me in with the organizing committee right out of the gate. We visited Cloudsdale without a hitch. Met Zecora so naturally, when ponies had been avoiding her for months. Resolving the Appleoosa situation before it escalated. I never did find out why Discord never showed his face. The parasprites I traced though.I've seen it all play out countless times, and there have been changes before. But not this go 'round. This started as a baseline Loop. I meant to leave it that way, or work out why it wasn't one. But I've figured it out. Traced it all back to one somepony."

Applejack looked at her friend askance.

"Care to clarify?"

"Somepony else knows what's going to happen ahead of time, and has been changing things so it happens more gently, or the problem doesn't occur at all. Countless disasters have been averted already."

Applejack relaxed slightly, a smile playing at her lips, even as confusion threatened to slip behind her eyes.

"Well if'n they're makin' things easier, ah don't quite see th' problem."

Twilight stamped a hoof against the threshold, the wood responding with a *thunk* that punctuated her statement.

"That's the thing, you have no idea how this has affected the timestream, many valuable lessons haven't been learnt!"

A frown of doubt crossed Applejack's face as she responded.

"Now that's just plain wrong. Y'can't judge somepony by the disasters they avert. Seems to me that's the opposite of what ya should be doin'."

By this point, the other Apples had taken notice of the debate going on across the doorstep. Granny Smith had a hoof to her ear, straining to make the discussion audible. Applebloom was riveted, her eyes and ears soaking in every word. Big Macintosh was just peering over the top of a farmer's almanac, taking in the scene quietly. Twilight's tirade continued.

"Oh, I wouldn't have worried so much if they'd come round and told me what was going on, then I would have been sure this was a normal loop. But nooo. They just continued on. Another pony might have been flashier, utilized the situation more directly to their benefit. Taken some credit, acted more directly or netted some abnormally large benefit. But not our culprit. They're subtle-like. Degrees of separation, a word here, some wisdom there, a bit of encouragement or a pick-me-up right when it's needed, so very innocuous. That's why it took so long for me to realize who was behind it. He almost got away with it too."

Behind Applejack, her younger sister was staring slack-jawed at her brother.

Big Macintosh the Looper had turned an even brighter shade of red than normal, and he was being careful to avoid eye contact with anypony.

"Shucks."

* * *

15.7

* * *

"Good news," Twilight said, passing Trixie some herbal tea. (The showmare had encountered the blend last Loop, learning what Zecora had to teach her, and taken to it with gusto.) "I think I've worked out a way to get you introduced to Ponyville early."

"You have?" Trixie blinked. "I thought I usually turned up fairly early…"

"Fairly, yes," Twilight dragged the words out, "but not soon enough that I can finagle you an invitation to the Grand Galloping Gala. I know you like that sort of thing."

Trixie nodded. "Fair point. Can I have Rarity make me a dress made of fire?"

"I… actually don't think she's Awake this time, so only if she is when you next turn up." Twilight shrugged. "Sorry."

"Ah well." Trixie gave a theatrical sigh. "I suppose I'll have to rely on my dazzling wit to wow the crowd."

"Knowing Canterlot nobility…" Twilight stopped, and pondered. "That might actually work. They do tend to spend a fair fraction of their time coming up with cutting barbs and performing social manoeuvring."

"Anyway." Trixie tossed her head. "With that out of the way, what is this plan?"

"Right." Twilight winked. "Basically, I think by now you can technically count as an old friend. So I'll simply set things up with an old friend so that they perform the opening act at the Summer Sun festival."

Trixie gulped. "…doesn't that mean Nightmare Moon will come onto the stage directly behind Trixie?"

The Anchor shrugged. "Basically. But my brother worked out a spell that should help keep you safe – I can cast it on you before you go up." Twilight began counting under her breath, then looked up again. "Actually, I have… a spare Intelligent Device, a copy of a thing called the Rainbow of Light, a full set of battle armour from when I recruited you as the head of my guard – back before you Awakened – and…"

Giggling at Trixie's gradually opening mouth (and expression like Hearth's Warming had come early), Twilight rummaged in her subspace pocket. "Aha!"

Twilight sprinkled what she'd found on the table. "Twenty-four Cartridges for an Intelligent Device's feed mechanism. That's enough for two reloads, assuming you go in with six in the chamber and we spend six practising."

Trixie blinked. "Are you trying to set me up to fight Nightmare Moon?"

"Yep." Twilight nodded. "I think I taught you all the really powerful spells over the last few Loops, and an Intelligent Device isn't actually all that hard to learn to use. Since the plan is to do this next time you're Awake, we can probably get that practise in now." Then the purple unicorn grinned. "Even _if_ the result is a stalemate or that you eventually get beaten – and I honestly don't know which way it would end up going – then it should at least look like you've brought me time to get the Elements running."

"Right." Trixie's face set. "That does sound like quite the introduction."

"That's the plan." Twilight frowned. "Oh, don't forget your Element, either. The passive power of the Element of Magic does things like make spells more efficient, which should help."

"To say the least…" Trixie muttered. "Trixie cannot believe she is doing this."

* * *

"Anyway. Any pony here from Manehattan?"

Some of the audience raised their hooves.

"Well, so much for thirty percent of Trixie's material." Trixie pulled some pages out of her stack of notes and crumpled them up, then threw them away.

Looking at what was left, she blinked… then cantered across the stage to where the bits had gone and picked them up. "That was not according to plan. Trixie definitely did not plan to crumple up the page she was on. Anyway…"

She pointed at a pony in the audience. "What is it that you do?"

"Me?" The pony looked around. "Er… I sell quills and sofas."

"Quills and sofas." Trixie nodded. "Right. Trixie supposes that makes as much sense as anything. But doesn't it get you down sometimes?"

There was scattered laughter.

"The rest of you can ask whoever's closest to you who actually got the joke," Trixie said with a sigh.

This time, there was a bit more laughter.

"It'll do." Trixie leafed through her notes. "You're not getting this whole gig, are you, audience? Trixie tells jokes, you laugh. That is how it is supposed to work."

She put them back down on the nearby lectern. "So, anyway. The Summer Sun festival. Longest day of the year. Trixie can't help but think we might have got the wrong end of this one, to be honest. I mean, it's four AM and here we are, up before the sun. If ever there was a day to be asleep when the sun's up, it's when the sun's up for _so much_ of it."

Suddenly, there was a commotion backstage.

Nightmare Moon stepped through the curtain, batting away incoming guards. "Oh, my beloved subjects-"

Trixie interrupted her. "You."

Nightmare Moon focused on her, an expression of astonishment on her face. "Why do you provoke me?"

"My name is Trixie Lulamoon. You interrupted my comedy routine." Trixie grinned as the adrenaline began to kick in. "Prepare to cry."

She heard Twilight's voice taking charge behind her, evacuating the building, and reached out to the contingent spells Twilight had helped her set up.

One-two-three, and she was ready for this.

Hat and cape were in place, though the clasp for her cape had been replaced by the Rainbow of Light. Beneath her hat was concealed her Element of Magic – a slim circlet with a wand at the top – and her new Intelligent Device, Loki, was held in one hoof.

But what really showed something was different was the _armour_. Twilight had made it to the same standards as the Princesses' own battle armour, and it showed. (It also held the bound-spell version of Shining's protective enchantment, the other end of which was apparently keyed to an entire mountain.)

Stand by, ready. Set up.

Loki finished the preparations, hovering over her right shoulder in staff form.

Nightmare Moon blinked. "What-"

"You wanted to come back here after a thousand years?" Trixie asked. "Come back and take over as though you'd never tried to usurp sole rule in the first place?"

"My night never got the attention it deserved!" Nightmare Moon shouted back. "It-"

Trixie held up a hoof. "Wait a moment. While this is probably going to end up as a fight, I deplore starting a fight in which I don't have the element of surprise."

Before Nightmare Moon had _quite_ finished processing that sentence, Trixie launched off a Missile Storm, and then things got quite loud.

* * *

Twilight winced as the town hall exploded. "That's going to be costly to fix…"

Mind you, it was _hardly_ the first time Ponyville had needed substantial rebuilding. Well, it was the first this Loop, but it seemed to average three or four times per Loop.

* * *

Trixie teleported away from an attack by a sliver of a second, fired off three illusions – two of them obvious, one of them just within what she guessed was Nightmare Moon's skill to localize – and used the moment of confusion to expend three cartridges.

The resultant lightning bolt split the night, shaking the ground and hammering through most of Nightmare Moon's defences. As she turned to locate the origin point of the blast, a tree fell on her.

"Always the way," Trixie said to herself. "Misdirection. Feint, feint, kick to the head. Loki, Blaster One."

Affirmative. Blaster One engaged.

Two semi-autonomous blaster bits flew out of Loki's launch bay, leaving four still in there. That let her split her fire more effectively, but she still had to actually _cast_ all the spells herself and her horn was starting to ache.

_Let it! This is the most fun I've had in SO long!_

Another dark bolt flew off the Nightmare's horn, hitting her in the thigh. Protective magic crackled, and what would probably have blown her apart became just a faint ache in the left rear leg. Though there was probably a chunk of mountain missing somewhere.

As the battle escalated, she started relying on Nanoha-style spells more. Thrown objects, fireworks, illusions and just the occasional loud noise had their place, but to actually keep Nightmare Moon off balance took some serious firepower – if she didn't feel under threat, she'd stop taking the distractions seriously.

* * *

Nightmare snarled, as another of the annoying unicorn's illusions turned to dust under a Dark Bolt.

This was the most infuriating foe she had _ever_ faced! The illusions were too good for her to properly unravel half the time, and when they weren't they were just there to make her _think_ something. She was being manipulated, and didn't like it.

And she had to treat all the illusions as serious threats, too, which meant spending FAR too much magic on them. Earlier, the unicorn – Trixie something – had somehow endured an attack that would have blown a hole in a castle wall, and probably the whole castle.

Another illusion appeared, this one just a little bit off. Nightmare Moon determined to ignore it, focusing on the slightly better-hidden signature which could be-

And then a bolt of blue magic speared out of what she'd written off as an illusion, smashing her in the flank and nearly knocking her over.

Then a house landed on her.

Snarling, Nightmare Moon disintegrated the house and took to the air. That pesky unicorn couldn't be up here!

* * *

Flier Fin.

Trixie winced as Nightmare Moon started levelling the town, methodically pulverizing buildings one by one. _Better them than me… that protection spell is feeling ragged._

"The illusion is working?" she asked, hoofing the spent cartridges out of Loki and loading her last six.

Affirmative.

"Good… and the town _is_ clear?"

Indeed. A pause. The answer is the same as last time you asked.

"Sorry."

Trixie looked around. All six of the blaster bits were active… she still had enough magic… and Nightmare Moon was still shooting things only she could see.

"Cartridge load."

Loki fired off all six remaining cartridges, and Trixie's reserves swelled back to full. Enough.

Then she dispelled the illusion she'd been maintaining. Across Nightmare Moon's eyes and ears.

* * *

Nightmare Moon blinked as the town below her wavered like smoke. _What-_

"Hey!"

She turned towards the origin of the voice, and saw that infernal unicorn again. Hovering in mid aid, exactly as Nightmare had thought she couldn't. Gratifyingly, Nightmare had apparently done some damage – the armour was torn in places, and Trixie's hat was missing. But-

There was a ball of magic building on the end of that strange staff thing.

And something atop the unicorn's head, which felt surprisingly familiar. A circlet of crystal, with the wand atop it burning with an intense blue flame.

Then, two objects darted from nowhere and wrapped a golden chain around her middle, holding her in place.

"It's called Enkidu," Trixie said. "It's the most powerful binding spell I know, so it should hold for at least a few minutes. I just wanted to explain something to you."

Nightmare growled.

"Villains – evil doers – ponies who want to be powerful, who want to win and who want to rule over others. They're always the ones who have all the impressive powers. They're the ones who you read the stories, and you think 'wow. I didn't know any pony could do that.' You want to be able to do what they could." Trixie shook her head. "But you never want to _be_ them. And that's because of something that… almost everyone understands, somewhere deep down. It's that being selfish doesn't really work."

"And that's for a good reason." As Trixie continued, Nightmare Moon caught sight of four other objects, each of them with the same gradually growing ball of magic as the staff.

"Basically, good ponies aren't any less powerful than evil ones. In fact, because they cooperate, because they learn from one another, they can become more powerful. No, it is something else… Tell Trixie, one thousand years ago… did your sister ever fight you?"

Nightmare blinked. "…no. She just hit me with the Elements of Harmony."

"And do you think that that was because you could defeat her?" Trixie bobbed her head. "Possibly, possibly. But there's another good reason. Look at the town below you."

The bindings gave Nightmare enough movement to do so.

"See how devastated it is? That's the point. Good ponies aren't less powerful. They just care more about collateral damage."

Trixie grinned. "But this town was evacuated. Starlight Breaker."

Five bolts of surprisingly pink magic erupted.

* * *

Trixie coughed. "Ow. My horn hurts."

"I bet it does…" Twilight said, trotting briskly over. "Did you really have to do this much damage?"

The blue pony giggled. "So much for being accepted…" After a moment, Trixie shook her head, and recovered some of her composure. "I think I did fairly well, actually."

"Yeah, you did. You tricked a goddess, manoeuvred her into a trap, and then hit her with enough magic that she…" Twilight craned over the rubble of a wall, "Seems to be cured, actually. Guess Nanoha universe magic really can just about manage it, with enough boosts. Congratulations…"

Twilight conjured a mirror.

"…Princess Trixie."

Trixie blinked, taking in the sight of her new wings. "Oh." Then she frowned. "Wait a minute. Was this your plan all along?"

"…kinda." Twilight shrugged. "I honestly had no idea if it'd work, but even if it didn't it would still be a useful test."

"You should have told me!" Trixie accused. "Turning ponies into deities without their permission is… er… Trixie was going to say impolite, but she thought impossible would have fit until a few hours ago, so she stands corrected."

"I don't really know if it would even _work_ like that," Twilight admitted. "Anyway, no harm done, right?"

"No, Trixie supposes not." The new alicorn then slumped over and started snoring.

"Yeah, yeah, leave me to explain everything…" Twilight groused.

Celestia appeared in a flash of light. "Twilight! What happened here? And… wait, is that my sister?"

"No, cutie mark's wrong. Though she _is_ called Lulamoon…" Twilight pointed. "Luna's over there."

* * *

15.8

* * *

Rarity stepped outdoors, and breathed deeply. _Ah, midsummer's eve._

A new Loop, and new opportunities.

_Wonder who else is Awake…_ she pondered with half her mind, the other half trying to decide what was 'in' this Loop.

_Ooh, perhaps I could go with a theme focused on birds? It would be simply _marvellous!

With a flash of green fire, something appeared in front of her. Surprised, she caught it. _Now what does Twilight want this time?_

The envelope was alabaster in colour and slightly scented with saffron. Frowning, she opened it, and took out the letter.

_Dear Rarity,_

_Spike here. I thought I should let you know that I've finally actually started Looping. Twilight let me know that you were Awake this time, and so I thought I'd try going about this whole thing… right._

_I know I had a silly crush on you. I would like to hope that that crush has gone away with maturity, but I can't be sure, since I certainly don't feel any less attracted to you._

_If I was a proper dragon, I'd probably try to steal you away, or something like that. But I'm not, so… I'd like to do something a bit more sensible._

_I've made a reservation for two seats in a restaurant in Canterlot, for the evening meal – the one run by Blue Cordon. Twilight's agreed to help with the teleportation required, so I would be honoured if you would give me the pleasure of your company._

_Yours,_

_Spykoranuvellitar (Spike)._

_P.S: Twilight found a way to help me change my physical age. I won't look like a baby, so don't worry on that front._

Rarity blinked.

Then started to smile. "Well, he certainly doesn't do things by halves… I can never be sure of managing to get a meal there. Wonder how he got the reservation…"

Yes, this could be interesting. Spiky-wikey was always so sweet, and this much more mature Spike – she'd never seen or heard him use his full name before…

_Most_ interesting.

Then she gasped. "Only seven hours to do all the normal preparations and get ready! And I _must_ look my best! Oh, maybe I should make him a suit as well! No, perhaps that would be taken as an insult…"

She shot back into the boutique, already planning what she was going to make. Romantic dinner, simple meal, or whatever else it turned out to be, she was _not_ going to waste the chance to show off her dressmaking skills in _the_ premier Canterlot restaurant!

* * *

"Thanks," Spike said, scratching the back of his head. "I know this is short notice…"

"Oh, no problem," Cadence assured him. "In all honesty, Shining and I had booked the seats before we discovered that his parents would be free this evening. We'll be able to visit Twilight Twinkle and Night Light – that'll probably be just as nice." She giggled. "_Shining_ certainly thought so! I swear, he calls that formal outfit of his – the one he'd have had to wear there – worse than full plate armour. I barely had time to suggest it before he agreed."

Then she grew sly. "Besides, what else am I doing here, but my job?"

Spike coughed. "Well, yes, that is my hope. But I'd rather it all start slow."

"Good attitude." Cadence nodded. "Try to win a lover, and you might gain an enemy. But try to gain a friend, and you might just win a lover…"

This time the dragon blushed slightly, and adjusted the tie she'd helped him with.

* * *

"So," Rarity said, halfway through the main course. (She was having something inventive involving bamboo shoots stuffed with cheese; Spike had opted for a pasta dish.) "_Do_ tell me, Spike. How on Equestria did you get us a table at such short notice?"

Spike smiled, ever so slightly nervously. "Well, Cadence and Shining had a reservation they didn't particularly want to make use of – apparently they booked it well in advance, and then it turned out that Twilight's parents were having a night in." The dragon – currently about the same size as Rarity – broadened his smile. "More power to them."

"Indeed – I wish I'd known about that. But, then, you have rather more of an in with the two of them than I do." Rarity paused, checking that the table was indeed far enough from other ponies who might overhear them. "How did she handle your unexpected size increase?"

The dragon shrugged, and swallowed his latest mouthful. "I passed it off as a growth spurt, to tell the truth. It isn't as though dragon biology is well enough understood to preclude it."

"Of course." Rarity nodded along with the explanation. Then she put a hoof to her chin in thought, expertly keeping the fabric of her sleeve from touching the table. "Though – one has to wonder. Have you taken advantage of the… well, the loops, when I wasn't present, to… become involved with me?"

Spike hid his discomfort at the topic. Then decided he didn't need to, and permitted a wince to escape. "Honestly… yes. One which was the first time I'd actually turned up in Equestria itself, and then another time about two loops after that."

Rarity nodded. "I'm glad you let me know. How did it go?"

"The first time…" Spike smiled slightly. "Basically, I saved you from the Diamond Dogs – rather than you save yourself, I mean. I like to think I was quite dashing, but…" The dragon shrugged. "I _was_ still young, then. Twilight and I hadn't worked out the age changing trick yet. In any case, the farthest it got was that we went to the Gala together a few times."

The unicorn digested the information. "I imagine I was quite grateful. The first time… those dogs were _scary_."

"You were." Spike sighed. "I felt really good about it, actually… but, at the same time, there was this nagging question at the back of my mind. Two, really. The first one was _is this right?_ I mean, I was using my knowledge of the future to develop a relationship with a pony who hadn't… it kind of felt wrong."

"And the second one?" Rarity asked, when he didn't continue.

"I couldn't shake the feeling that you saw me as a child. You probably did."

"I'd say… more than that, probably," Rarity replied, thinking back to her own mental state from all those years ago. "I always did like a knight in shining armour – though not the actual Shining Armor, of course."

Both of them chuckled.

"I imagine I did have some stronger feelings for you, but…" Rarity shrugged, sending the dress rippling and causing the colours down it to change as she moved. "Well, I'd have wanted to wait until your majority."

"Which would never come, of course, but you couldn't know that." Spike took a drink from his glass – he'd asked for the sourest vintage they had, which had raised a few delicately manicured eyebrows but which suited him quite fine. (They'd been grateful to be able to sell something they'd have had to throw out, once he explained the biology involved.)

"What was the second time?"

"That was… stranger." Spike shrugged. "I got Twilight to try turning me into a pony, basically. Stupidest idea I've ever had. I didn't get far with you…"

Rarity giggled despite herself. "Oh, dear. Sorry, Spike, but… that _is_ rather a funny image."

The dragon nodded. "Yeah, once I got a bit of perspective I could see how it was funny too. I was trying to look all suave when I didn't even know how to _walk_ properly, it must have been dreadful."

"And after that?"

"I… just didn't bother. Partly because of those same problems I mentioned, but partly…" Spike sighed. "I don't want it to be… or… okay. In simple terms: I _think_ that I love you. But I can't be sure. I don't know if this is still a crush, I don't know if… well, if the things which I like about the… the _you_ that I know, are the ones which you like about yourself. The ones you've kept. And I don't know if you like _me_."

"Which me do you mean this time?" Rarity said quietly.

"The… looping you. I… basically, it's like I knew what you were like as a child. And like you knew what I was like as a child." The dragon rubbed his forehead. "So, before I – before either of us starts even thinking about going further, we should make sure we each know what the other is actually like." Spike then flashed a grin, this one with a lot more humour in it. "Hi. I'm Spykoranuvellitar, but everyone calls me Spike, and I'm Twilight Sparkle's assistant. What's your name?"

Rarity matched the smile. "Rarity. I'm a dressmaker, and I like making magical items as well."

"Nice to meet you, then."

Then they remembered the meal, which had sadly cooled off a bit.

* * *

15.9

* * *

"Mister dragon?"

The dragon who had set up in the mountains overlooking Ponyville opened one eye. "What is it, little pony?"

Fluttershy pressed the tips of her hooves together. "Well, you see, we're having a bit of a smoke problem. We were wondering if you could stop?"

That only got laughter. "Why should I stop? Are you going to make me, little pony?"

"I'd… really rather not," Fluttershy said, "but if I have to, then I will."

More laughter.

Fluttershy's eyes hardened. "Alright, then. Angel? Sic 'em."

* * *

Applebloom held up cards. "Eight point six!"

Scootaloo disagreed. "Only four point five, I think. He's really not controlled his landing well."

Sweetie Belle held hers up. "Six and a half. I really like the startled yowp noise he made."

There was a _crack_, as Angel Bunny kicked the dragon entirely into the air a second time. The three fillies gauged this new trajectory, and then started holding up more scorecards.

* * *

"How did you do this?" Twilight asked. "Whatever it was, it was cool…"

"Oh." Fluttershy blushed. "I basically made Angel my animal companion – you know, like druids have. And then I went alicorn and pumped more power into him."

Twilight nodded, watching Angel twist all six of his target's limbs into a single chokehold. "I have to say, he took to it well."

* * *

15.1 continued

* * *

"By the way, Rarity," Fluttershy asked, when they were arriving to Ponyville Town Hall in preparation to take care of Nightmare Moon, "why did you ask Twilight for the Element of Magic?"

"Because I want to try wearing and using it. Doesn't it look fabulous on me? I must definitely must have a few pictures taken wearing it." Rarity posed.

"You sure it's gonna work, sugarcube?" Applejack asked as she, like the others, summoned their Elements.

The white unicorn frowned slightly. "Not really. But in that case we are still five alicorns against one."

The rest of the night was a silent wait. Even the usually energetic Pinkie Pie wasn't in the mood for talking, everypony mourning Twilight's loss.

Eventually, Rainbow Dash pointed to the moon, now without the alicorn shaped shadow. "Here she comes." That was all the signal Rarity and the others needed to start activating the elements, from a place hidden enough to conceal them, so that they'd be ready by the time Nightmare Moon made her appearance.

"My beloved subjects, it has been so long."

…or so they believed, because the Element of Magic wasn't activating.

_Please, Element of Magic! Twilight really doesn't need to deal with Nightmare Moon this loop._

The lack of response from the crown only angered her. "Oh, buck it! Plan B!" And then the Element holders started running towards Nightmare Moon just in time for her usual declaration.

"The night will last-" … which was as far as she got, because Nightmare Moon's speech was interrupted by a blur of blue movement which punched her in the jaw.

"**OUR** NIGHT" Princess Luna said to Nightmare Moon with the full force of the Canterlot Royal Speaking Voice, and blew on her right forehoof.

"Princess Luna?" all five Element bearers chorused, skidding to a halt in confusion.

"Oh, hi!" Luna waved to the Elements bearers, and trotted over as guards covered the recumbent form of Nightmare Moon.

Once in range, she lowered her voice so only they could hear her. "For some reason I turned up separate to Nightmare Moon this time, any idea why? And where's Twilight?"

"Ohh… my head…" Nightmare Moon said, clutching it. There was a burst of light, and she shrunk down to filly size. "What happened?"

That filly was…_By Harmony._ "Dash! Get Twilight NOW." She only received a Sonic Rainboom as answer.

"Rarity, what's the deal?" Princess Luna asked.

"It's about Nightmare Moon, it could be a very long shot but-" The crack of teleportation interrupted her, bringing Twilight Sparkle and Princess Rainbow Dash. Rarity wondered if there was any library left as of now.

"We're here," Twilight said, bloodshot eyes showing she hadn't stopped crying after they had left. "What did you want-?"

She broke off mid sentence, locking eyes with the little alicorn on the dais. "…Nyxie?"

"Momma! I mean, Twilight!"

Luna gestured to the two guards to stand down, as Nyx launched herself across the room into Twilight's forelegs.

"What happened? I was going to bed and then suddenly I was on the moon, and then I tried to play Nightmare Moon when I saw the Summer Sun celebration. Are we in the past?"

"Thank you… whoever's organizing this, thank you. For letting me have my daughter back." Twilight muttered while hugging Nyx tighter.

* * *

"…so I won't be around much?" Nyx asked. "That kinda sucks."

Twilight nodded. "I know, I wish you would be more but it's just the way these loops seem to work. But promise me, please let me know the moment you awake in any loop – that'll be the very next loop for you, but I don't know how long it will have been for me."

"I promise momma."

Then the purple unicorn smiled. "But what matters more is that you're going to be here at all. When I thought I'd lost you…"

After a moment, Nyx adjusted her glasses. "Hey… next time I turn up, can we play a prank on Princess Celestia?"

"Whatever you want," Twilight said. "Whatever you want."

* * *

_Dear Princess Celestia,_

_By unexpectedly using a loophole in the "no children" policy for loopers I ended adopting a small filly I named Nyx. I think I could gush for a long time about her, so I'll leave it for when we meet in person (feel free to ask Princess Luna for pictures, you'll be for a surprise). The important part is, I found myself heartbroken when the loop reset and I couldn't even give my farewells to my daughter. However, thank Harmony, Yggdrasil somehow decided to make Nyx awake the very next loop._

_I think I now finally understand why you requested me to write you these Looper Reports so many loops ago. I may not know when, I may not know how, but now that both Nyx and myself are looping I know we will meet again someday, in the same way the Looper Reports are a promise for us to meet again. Now I see how those promises give me the strength to go on each day._

_Thank you, Princess. For taking care of me even when you aren't awake._

_Your faithful student,_

_Twilight Sparkle_

* * *

AN:

Bit of an increase in cast size this time... that wasn't precisely planned, it just happened.  
And I'm going to try and have Spike and Rarity develop naturally. They have every chance to take things slow.

Loop 15.2 is based in part off of one of my other fanfics, Another Kind of Magic. Basically because that way I can use my slightly crazy Trixie from that fic. And 15.7 includes some technology from the Nanoha universe, an Intelligent Device. Basically, a technological version of a familiar spirit, which helps with spellcasting.  
And, of course, 15.1 features Nyx from Past Sins.

Thoughts?

Also note: chapter eight's part of Turning the Tables has been revised, to make clearer the distinction between what Celestia _wanted_ to do and what she _accidentally_ did.


	16. Chapter 16

16.1

* * *

Discord snapped his fingers. "Well, so much for the gallant captain of the guard."

Shining Armor's coat washed out and became grey, as his Discordification took effect.

"…wait…" Discord looked over at the Element bearers. "Why aren't you worried?"

"Discord?" Twilight said, sniggering. "My brother's talent is defensive spells. What's the opposite of defence?"

The Draconequus started to say something, paused, and then sighed. Snapping his fingers, he created a podium and stepped onto it. "Can I at least have time to pose?"

"Ooh!" Pinkie hopped up and down. "I know the answer! It's offense!"

Twilight shaded her eyes as the Plasma Lancer spell triggered.

* * *

16.2

* * *

"Thanks, Shining." Cadence said, nuzzling him for a moment. "Just a month to go."

Shining Armor blushed, then nodded. "Can't wait."

After a moment more, Shining left his fiancée's rooms and headed home.

"One month?" A voice said from down the corridor. "Excellent…"

Cadence looked around. "Who was that?"

A servant, one who had gone past not five minutes ago doing laundry, flashed green and became a black, insectile alicorn-like creature. "Me. Queen Chrysalis. And I'm sorry to say… _little_ pony… but your wedding isn't going to go as planned."

Chrysalis walked forward, green magic glowing around her horn. "Well, in one way in particular. It won't be you up there with Shining Armor… it'll be me…"

Another flash of magic, and Cadence was facing her double.

The newest princess of Equestria blinked… then grinned. "Excellent!"

"…what?" Chrysalis nearly tripped over.

"Oh, hang on, there's some mistakes with your disguise. That shade isn't quite the colour of my coat… and that's the wrong horn spiral curvature… yes, that's better." Cadence stepped back and walked around the befuddled Chrysalis. "And I don't think much of those fetlocks… wait, is my rear really _that_ large? I need to lay off the cakes…"

"You won't have _any_ cakes where you're going!" Chrysalis rejoined, trying to regain the initiative.

"Well…" Cadence used her magic to lift over a huge pile of paperwork. "Here. I discovered that my aunts were taking on _far_ too much of a load of paperwork, and so I volunteered to help out. Of course, they then each gave me half of theirs, so I've ended up overworked myself… honestly, I was letting it pile up a bit… of course, you'll have to handle that yourself, if you're going to replace me."

Cadence looked over at the faux-alicorn. "Or did you not expect that?"

"NO!" Chrysalis shouted. "Of course I didn't! I thought it would be a pleasant month or so in nice surroundings, draining love from your sickeningly devoted fiancé, and then I would invade Equestria!"

"Yeah, no." Cadence shrugged. "Funny how plans don't work out, isn't it… I wanted a quiet wedding." _This time,_ she thought to herself.

"Anyway," she summoned magic to herself, "Bye!"

* * *

"Well?" Shining asked, as Cadence materialized in _his_ room.

"Either she's left, or she's going to do all my paperwork. Either way, I think we can get away with a weekend in the mountains." Cadence grinned. "Twilight was right, this _is_ more satisfying than just kicking her or something."

* * *

16.3

* * *

If there was one thing that Rainbow Dash had learned through the course of the Time Loops, it was restraint.

It hadn't come easy to her, to be certain, but she _did_ manage it now and again.

But this was one of the Loops Twilight had said she could cut loose on. So that wasn't a consideration.

* * *

Dash entered the first stage of her Best Young Fliers' competition set. Rather than go with something outwardly flashy, she simply executed a series of loops, Immelmann turns and finally five Kulbits in a row.

Oh, they were well performed, certainly, but nothing to compete with her usual pyrotechnics. But…

She could already hear it. The pegasi in the audience with an experience of stunt flying were noticing it – her aerobatics were breaking the laws of physics quite thoroughly. Firstly, because she was doing the whole thing in a glide. And given that…

_Heh._ Dash felt a grin emerge, as she let the airflow fall off her wings completely. _Yeah, I'm stalling. And it doesn't look like it, does it?_

A simple backflip in mid air, and she caught the airstream again. This time, she beat her wings – once only, the first time since she'd started her set. And _rocketed_ forwards.

* * *

Spitfire gaped. "Soarin'? Is that supposed to be possible?"

"Nope." Soarin' managed. "She just tripled her speed in one wingbeat."

"Oh, good. I did wonder…"

* * *

_Time for something more impressive._ Dash stopped abruptly, killing her entire relative velocity in one go and sending her slipstream rocketing upwards into the clouds around. Then, as she began to fall, the blue pegasus accelerated in earnest.

Again, she was focusing on pure skill. Holding her velocity down to the barest fraction below the speed of sound, a cloud formed around her – not the transient one from breaking the sound barrier, but one that just stayed and stayed.

It was likely only a few dozen pegasi in the audience would recognize what she was doing – controlling her speed to within a metre per second at the very edge of the sound barrier. But, as her personal weather magic signature interacted with the cloud, it produced a cone of rainbow light all around her.

Her expert eye gauged the progress of what she'd set in motion overhead. _Nearly… nearly…_

A wide, sweeping turn took her over a mile away from the stadium. Dropping speed and executing a wingover, she took aim.

* * *

"…wait…" Soarin' pointed up. "Should the clouds be doing that?"

Spitfire followed his hoof. "Wh-no! Of course not!"

A minute ago, there'd been a scattering of light, fluffy clouds – just enough to make it interesting if the pegasi wanted to use them in their routines. But whatever was going on – was it this Rainbow Dash's doing? – meant that they were coalescing, and turning an ominous black.

Actually, it looked like they were about to do a spontaneous lightning discharge.

"Everypony d-"

Two huge explosions merged into one, drowning out her voice.

* * *

Dash landed in total silence, the cloud she'd created blown away by the blast.

"And I call that the Lightning Cutter. Neat, huh?"

After about five seconds, it finally registered that she'd just used a _sonic rainboom_ to block a _lightning bolt_ in mid air.

_Then_ the applause started.

* * *

16.4

* * *

Twilight sent off the usual letter to Celestia, warning her about the imminent return of Nightmare Moon.

After a minute or so, she got the reply back – just the same as normal. But the top, as Spike read it out, said:

_Dear Spike,_

_Please hand this to Twilight without unfolding it. I'm afraid there's something private I'd like to discuss with her._

"Huh," Spike said, stopping there. "Wonder what she wants. Secret mission?"

Twilight shrugged, already guessing what the subject was.

_Dear Twilight Sparkle,_

_As you may have guessed, I'm Awake again. And, sorry to say, I'm feeling a little bit tired. What do you say, should we work out some kind of gigantic prank on Equestria as a whole?_

"She wants to see me," Twilight interpreted to Spike. "I'd better head over there."

* * *

"Right," Twilight muttered, poring over the notes they'd been making. "So… it looks like the most likely option is number three."

Celestia giggled. "Oh, I wish I could see the look on my sister's face…"

"I'll make sure to record it," Twilight promised.

* * *

"Well, basically…" Twilight said to a crowd which included the mayor, two of the other Element bearers and a fair fraction of the town, "The reason the Summer Sun is being held here is because it is closest to the old royal seat, in the Everfree. This has been scheduled for a full thousand years, though," Twilight shook her head, "it looks like most of the paperwork got lost over the intervening time. Anyway, Princess Celestia is stepping down-"

There was a sudden hubbub of conversation.

"Excuse me? Thank you. As I was saying, Princess Celestia is stepping down in favour of her sister, Princess Luna. One of the Royal Sisters has to be in the heavens at all times to maintain the cycle of the years, and the other on Equestria to maintain the cycle of the days. Celestia's time on Equestria is up, so she's off to the sun." Pure invention, but it sounded good. "And that means we need to give a good welcome to Princess Luna. After all, she's been a little out of touch…"

"Right." Mayor Mare gave a determined nod. "Let's get to work, then!"

* * *

Nightmare Moon stepped out onto stage. "Oh, my beloved subjects-"

Then she blinked. Banners on the wall saying "goodbye Celestia", "good luck" and "welcome back Luna"? What was going on?

Celestia trotted smartly up to her, so brazen that Nightmare found it difficult to react. "Welcome back, Luna. Your job now, I'm off to the sun."

And then she vanished. Completely.

"…what?"

Then a unicorn came onto the stage. "Welcome back, your highness. Now, we do have a plan of work in place, so let's start with one of the most important issues – you see, the construction of farming land was given a high priority under your sister's stewardship, but water conservation and control was rather less rigorously applied. I think a good first place for a tour of inspection would be-"

"…what is going on?" Nightmare Moon managed.

"It's the Precession, of course." The unicorn smiled tolerantly, and started explaining in the tones of someone saying what everyone already knew. Just for the record, as it were.

It was all news to Nightmare Moon, but… well, it couldn't be _too_ bad if she was suddenly in charge.

* * *

"Why are there so many clouds?" Nightmare Moon asked, scowling into the sky. "Can the Pegasi not deal with them?"

"Not really, no," Twilight said. "They're kind of overwhelmed. I mean, sun lamps and hydroponics have worked to provide sufficient food for the population, but a large increase in cloud cover is inevitable when it's constantly daytime over the largest ocean on the planet." Twilight conjured a visual aid, spinning the blue-green orb to highlight the huge ocean opposite Equestria itself. "See? The area of daylight is causing mammoth amounts of evaporation."

Nightmare sighed. "And would this problem be solved if We made sure it was no longer Eternal Night?"

"Pretty much." Twilight shrugged. "It's just climate science, really. And it's a little hard to admire a night through a thick layer of clouds."

"…fine, then." Nightmare Moon's horn glowed, and things got perceptibly lighter.

"It'll probably take a few months for the climate to settle back down, I'm afraid…" Twilight said. "Still, the pegasi should earn their keep for the duration."

* * *

Celestia spun in the air on her magically-reinforced tungsten-diamond surfboard, the photosphere of her star like a warm breeze against her coat. "I never knew this would actually work! Prominences are much more awesome than mere waves!"

* * *

16.5

* * *

"…and then we used the Elements on Sombra," Twilight concluded.

Celestia blinked. "Didn't I say not to take them? I know it was hard, Twilight, but I had to be _certain_ you weren't vulnerable to corruption… I won't repeat my mistake with Luna." The alicorn of the sun rubbed her temples. "I _was_ keeping an eye on you, scant though that excuse sounds, and…"

Then she shrugged. "But it apparently doesn't matter, if you used the Elements anyway. Why _did_ you take them?"

"Oh, we didn't _take_ them," Twilight said innocently. "We summoned them once we'd got there." Putting action to words, Twilight summoned her Element of Magic to her forehead. "Neat, isn't it?"

Celestia nodded. "It is, actually. But… oh, never mind. Apparently it _is_ impossible to separate you from them then, so a lot of my worries are alleviated."

Twilight passed over some papers. "Here – I've got Sombra assigned to an anonymous group, to help him recover."

The elder ruler scanned what Twilight had given her. "Crystalholics anonymous?"

* * *

"Grar. I am Sombra, and I am obsessed with… crystals."

"Hello, Sombra…" chorused four diamond dogs, three teenage dragons, a sea serpent, Pinkie Pie and Discord.

"Wait." Sombra pointed at Pinkie. "Pink pony. How?"

Pinkie sniffed. "I like granulated sugar, okay?"

* * *

16.6 (Stainless Steel Fox)

* * *

Playing Catch-up

* * *

Apple Bloom's underground workshop was pretty much as Flim and Flam had seen it, though that was loops ago. She'd pretty much automated the process of setting it up, letting it run while she went off and did other things. The appeared near on alcove which had a whole lot of racks of herbs and plants, and tables full of brewing equipment. Though Diamond Tiara hardly noticed with all the other incredible things they could see.

"You built all… this?"

The farm-pony grinned. "My talent is inventing and making stuff, the more sophisticated the better. That's why I had so much trouble getting my mark in the base-line reality; most of the things I'm good with don't exist unless I invent them. And while I'm great at application, I don't have the spark of genius to make the original breakthroughs. Computer, give me a standard projection display and two bottles of apple juice, no ice."

"Working." A voice came from no-where. A vertical, translucent panel of light appeared in front of them, and a tray came flying over as if brought by unicorn telekinesis. However, it had four whirring ducted fans at the corners which were the probable cause.

"I've gotta wonder how many blank flanks just never had the opportunity to do whatever their talent was. I _can_ trigger a making and fixing basic stuff cutie-mark now I understand it, but I'd probably never have found my true cutie-mark without the fused loops. Some of them have far higher base tech levels, and I learned everything I could from them."

She reached up and touched various pictures on the screen, and it flowed through a succession of cutie-marks, all involving apples and tools or brushes, one an apple cart with a hammer and spanner crossed underneath in the style of a skull and crossbones. It finally settled on her Zap Apple cutie mark, with the bite out of it exposing a golden tracery of circuits and runes.

"But we're not here to talk about me. I figured you deserved to know just how awesome _you_ can be. The first one I was thinking of was in a loop where Equestria was being attacked by aliens… I explained about fused loops, didn't I?" Applebloom checked. At the nod, she continued.

She pointed to the three versions of Maritech space fighter lined up, one in pega-form. She touched the screen at various points, and it showed a slide show of video clips from that loop, overflying the Marecross, a second cockpit view of a space battle, the three Crusaders, older and with two in uniforms. They were giving each other a three way high hoof.

"An alien battleship crashed on Equestria in the distant past, and the aliens had come to get it – and wipe out any inconvenient discoverers." That said with a grimace. "However, the Princesses ordered that it be studied and put back together. It advanced Equestria's technology, and we worked out how to replace some of the things we couldn't duplicate with magic. "

"But that's just background, I intended to show you what you can be when you aren't being a jerk… Though in that case you still were, pretty much, but it was for good reason – you know, being an awesome bitch like I said. You two couldn't pilot, but you tested high for Operations. We were in Red Squadron, me and Scootaloo flying a fighter, and you ended up as our squadron's Flight Co-ordinator. Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon were both bridge bunnies," Applebloom paused, and explained the unfamiliar slang for Diamond, "support operators."

"You were an evil minded sadist, a martinet, a drill sergeant who was such a hard ass we joked that was why you had a diamond on your flank… and you brought eleven out of twelve teams in the squadron out the other side. You have to understand, we were hopelessly outnumbered, and most other squadrons suffered better than one hundred percent losses. After we took that Zentran battleship and Scoots made squadron leader, _we didn't lose a single pony_."

She touched more symbols, and a scene appeared. The view from a camera looking down on part of a control room, with Diamond Tiara at a console, flanked by Silver Spoon and Sweetie Belle. "Got the bridge recording after the battle of Ares, it contained some particularly fine examples of Tiara-speak, and it was your birthday coming up…"

The uniformed Diamond Tiara started speaking. "Red Five, FC. If you hold your formation any looser, you'll lose your grip completely, if you haven't already! Tighten up your interval and bring Beta flight round to 16 mark 125, Red Gamma needs support!"

"FC, Five. On it like a bonnet!" Apple Bloom's voice came back.

"FC, Red Eleven, I'm getting my cutie-mark shot off here!" The voice sounded on the edge of panic.

Diamond Tiara's voice cut through it like a knife. "Get that Maritech scratched and it's coming out of your pay! Use that planetoid at 206 12 as cover and pega-form to shoot them as those pods overfly. Beta's coming to support you."

FC, Eleven, thanks!" the un-named flyer had clearly calmed down.

The scene continued, Diamond Tiara's pithy comments not interfering with the way she managed Red squadron like a virtuoso. It was interspersed with take from Mareitech on-board and remote satellite cameras and edited together with an exciting soundtrack. It had the feel of a big budget science-fiction blockbuster, and it served to show Diamond Tiara in the best light as she repeatedly manoeuvred the components of the squadron to evade and destroy the Zentradi pods and mobile suits.

When the clip ended, Apple Bloom said, "The entire squadron collaborated on making that, Sweetie Belle put together a custom soundtrack , and we showed it to you at your party. I think that was about the only time I'd ever seen you lost for words.

She grinned, "Though that certainly wasn't the case after we captured that battleship. I didn't have fotage for it, but I finally managed to build a memory reader neural interface a few loops ago. So, this one is direct from my memories."

A new scene formed, Diamond Tiara was facing Apple Bloom's viewpoint, wearing a similar uniform to the one they'd seen earlier.

"You are a pair of idiotic, grandstanding, lunatics!" She yelled, then cracked a tight grin. "However, you are a pair of successful, idiotic grandstanding lunatics, which makes up for it a bit. What were you thinking? Scootaloo, I thought you were better than to get boxed like that."

"I was riding heard on the rest of the flight, give me a break!" Scootaloo looked put-upon, but still flushed with excitement. "Some of those rookies are awfully green. I stayed in the fight after one engine got blown out and our avionics harness got hammered, and we covered the rest of the flight until they got to safety. But by that time, that battleship had come up and it could have taken us with its point defence, let alone its main guns."

"Huh, they could have hit us with a spit-ball at that range, and that doesn't count the dozens of escort vessels." Apple Bloom added. "Even if I'd been able to get the engine back up, we'd still probably been nailed trying to escape."

"I read your after action reports. You let a near miss appear to take you out, played dead, though they could have just finished you off anyway. You somehow managed to jury-rig enough computer control to go pega-form with a saddlebag computer, and when they took you on board, bam!" Film-Diamond seemed to realize that she was losing her image, and went back to being coolly detached.

"They'd never taken prisoners before, and running away was certain death. To be honest, neither Scoots or I figured what we were doing would be any different, but we reckoned we could take more of them with us."

Diamond Tiara growled. "You do or die types give me an acute pain in the rump! You realise how much trouble I'm going to have try and get the rest of that space happy crew of reprobates in Red Squadron not to try and pull a similar stunt! You had the Princesses' own luck that you somehow managed to take them off guard, and when you did get blasted, you ended up being blown into one of the machine spaces."

Apple Bloom appeared to shrug. "We were working towards it. Zentran tech is either 'use until it stops working' or self-repairing. We figured no-pony would look for us in the machine spaces. Plus, they may be armoured and secured to Tartarus on the outside, but they've never needed internal computer security. Though even I didn't think I'd be able to crack them that easily. But the engineering forums are right, they don't innovate either. The same programs we used to interface with the Marecross's thousand year old original systems worked just as well for that one."

Scootaloo chuckled. "Oh, man, it was fun to see the havoc when she faked a power core overload and triggered an abandon ship. And scrambling the IFF files so the main guns started seeing everything over the size of a shuttle as an enemy… It was beautiful!"

You could hear Apple Bloom's appreciation in her voice. "Scootaloo gets props too. She got that hulk moving with the controls I jury-rigged from our Maritech and flew it pretty much blind all the way back."

"If you keep patting yourselves on the back like that you'll hurt your fore-leg… or _I_ will." Diamond Tiara sniffed. "I guess I'd be just as mad either way. If you'd gotten your fool selves blown to atoms, it would have blotted my record. I guess having to ride herd on your fellow flying circus rejects to stop them from pulling something similarly insane is the lesser of two evils."

Apple Bloom chuckled. "We love you too DT!"

There was another growl. "Gahhh! Don't call me DT, it's Flight Controller or ma'am! Well, despite the fact that you both look and smell as if you've spent a week on the waste reclamation level, you are in very good odour with the top brass. There was mention of medals, but we'll have to see exactly what comes of that, if anything."

She gave an evil grin, her composure restored. "However, I can tell you that they're detaching a prize crew to send that hulk you captured back to Equestria for refitting, and your good friend Rainbow Dash is getting bumped to Wing Commander and is in charge of the oversize squadron they're sending with it for fighter cover. That means the squadron leader slot of Rainbow Squadron is up for grabs…"

Scootaloo was practically hovering in mid-air in excitement as she continued. "…and will go to Lightning Dust. But it means that Squadron Leader Soarin is going to move into Rainbow, and _that_ means you are the new biggest noise in Red Squadron, Squadron Leader Scootaloo and Senior Flight Engineer Apple Bloom. And may the Princess have mercy on our souls."

She sighed over-theatrically at the pegasus, who had a grin that would probably take surgical intervention to remove. "What did I do to deserve this? A poor innocent pony like myself, saddled with two of the biggest ding dongs in the whole of the MDF."

"I dunno. Just lucky, I guess." Scootaloo grinned.

The scene ended with Apple Bloom sporting a distant look and a big grin. "You'd have sooner walked the length of the Marecross's main deck without an pressure harness, but you did care for us, all of us, and we would have flown straight into Tartarus at your instruction because we knew you'd never ask us to do anything if it wasn't in the best way to protect every-pony."

* * *

16.7 (Stainless Steel Fox)

* * *

(Alert: the previous part of Turning the Tables – located in chapter eight – has been edited somewhat, to better show what Celestia's intentions as opposed to her results were.)

* * *

**Turning Tables (Continued)**

* * *

If Twilight had been privy to her mentor's thoughts she'd have probably thrown in the towel right then, considering her mission accomplished. In fact, she'd have probably felt a bit guilty at the way Celestia had worried about her. She might disagree with how her mentor had handled the Nightmare Moon situation in the base-line loop, but that didn't mean she didn't care for her deeply.

As she stepped up to the ticket booth at Canterlot station, she reflected on the irony of what she was about to do. Celestia's horn-off approach would actually work for this version of Twilight, who was certain she could solve the Nightmare Moon crisis without any assistance from the Princess. In fact, she was looking forward to the challenge of rekindling her old friendships without the framing device of being the overseer for the Midsummer Sun Festival, and doing it while staying under Princess Celestia's radar.

"Single to Manehatten, please." She horned over the bits to the counter-pony, schooling her expression to be slightly sad. This was another false trail she was laying. If her estimates were correct, Princess Celestia and her brother would assume a life-long Canterlot native such as herself, and one who'd spent a lot of time in libraries at that, to stay in Canterlot. Saying in her letter that she couldn't stay at her parent's house would imply that she was looking to stay somewhere else in Canterlot.

So the Princess's first response would probably to go through Canterlot with a fine tooth comb before checking the station or air-ship port. When they did, they'd discover she'd gotten a ticket to the far end of the line, and start looking for her there, rather than Ponyville. To further muddy the waters, she had no intention of letting any-pony see her get off there. Teleportation from a moving vehicle wasn't easy, but it _was_ possible if you had as much experience as Twilight did.

Eager to be about it, she left the carriage and got out of sight of any-pony inside as soon as they were well clear of the station. First some changes, her horn glowed as she wrapped an illusion around herself that would take an alicorn to pierce. Her coat became a washed out blue, her mane white and tied back in a bun, and her cutie-mark, an open book with a red bookmark in it. Her saddlebags changed too, actually being changed into a simpler, less expensive design, and a pair of manifested pince-nez glasses completed the disguise.

Her horn glowed again and she and flashed away and reappeared a few hooves in the air on the outskirts of Ponyville, near the road from Canterlot. A double check to see she hadn't kept any of the trains' velocity, and that she'd not been seen, and her horn flared and lowered her to the ground. Walking into town she headed straight for the mayor's office.

* * *

"These credentials are very impressive, Miss Codex." The mayor examined the paperwork in front of her. "With these you could certainly get a job in any library or archive in one of the big cities. May I ask why you chose to come to Ponyville?"

Twilight, now Codex, knew the question was just for form's sake. The old librarian, Flower Dew, had been offered a job in the Royal Canterlot Archives, which not only paid better but had put her far closer to her grand-children in Canterlot. Twilight suspected Princess Celestia's horn in that. As a result, the Mayor had been keeping Golden Oaks open ad hoc, whenever she could find a pony with a few hours to spare.

Since none of them were trained in Library Science, the books were in a terrible mix up, put back wherever the pony in charge thought they should go. It was one of the reasons Twilight had found it so hard to find the reference guide. It should not have been in the popular fiction section, under E. The upshot was that the mayor was ready to hire just about any-pony, or a griffon or Diamond Dog for that matter, if they could show they could do the job.

She showed none of these thoughts and instead gave a sigh. "Big cities, and all the things that come with them, are exactly what I'm trying to get away from. I have personal reasons for wanting to find somewhere quiet to think things over and put my life back…"

She stopped herself as if she'd said more than she intended. "Can we leave it at that? I'd rather not talk about it. I can do the job, if you want me too."

The mayor was a softy at heart, Twilight had worked with her long enough to know how she'd react. She felt a bit guilty at taking advantage of the other mare's good nature, but she could do the job, and although her references were faked, they were actually less impressive than her real ones. The mayor would eventually send off to the archives and to get statements from her referees and find out the deception, but that wouldn't be until after the Summer Sun celebration, which was all the time Twilight needed.

"I'm sure we can use you on a trial basis. Some-pony from Canterlot is coming to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration, and the Princess has requested she stay at Golden Oaks, but if you don't mind giving up your room for the night…"

Twilight smiled. "I'm sure I can sleep on a cot for one night. I'll wait until after the Midsummer Sun Celebration to get unpacked. In the mean time, if she's interested in books, I should be there to help her find what she needs."

"Excellent!" The mayor smiled back at her. "That kind of attitude is exactly what we need!"

* * *

Twilight spent a couple of happy hours re-shelving and cataloguing the misfiled books and getting the place spick and span. When you knew the vast number of household charms she did, and had lived in the place for centuries, you knew exactly what needed doing. Then her stomach rumbled, indicating that teatime was fast approaching.

She decided to head for Sugarcube Corner over Sweet Apple Acres, as she'd be able to get in groceries in town as well as some delicious cakes for tea. She knew that Pinkie would have been working at the counter when she first arrived, which explained the lack of an encounter, but she wasn't sure if she still would be by now.

"Hello, welcome to Sugar Cube – Wow! I've never seen you before!"

Twilight smiled at the hyperactive pink pony behind the counter. "That's probably because I just got into town today."

"That would be why! Gosh you're smart! I'm Pinkie Pie!"

"And I'm hungry. But my name's Codex. I'm the new town librarian." Twilight was basking in the banter. If there was ever a pony to lift your spirits it was Pinkie Pie.

"Ohhh! Codex the Librarian? Do you slay mighty Thesauruses with a single strike of your due-date stamp?" Pinkie's manner made it clear she wasn't mocking, just being her usual random self.

Twilight rubbed the back of her head with a hoof, playing along. "Well I have dealt with some fairly nasty Grimoires, even a few Incunabula. But my mind is sharp, my indexing skills intact, my heart is pure. And my knowledge of the Pony-decimal indexing system is encyclopaedic. Is this your shop? I mean with a name like Pie…"

"Oh no silly," the pink pony giggled, "Just because I'm called Pinkie Pie, doesn't mean I own a bakery. No, the Cakes own Sugar Cube Corner, I just live here. So now we know each other, we're friends. Welcome to Ponyville, my newest best friend Codex."

At that, Twilight let her expression grow more wistful. Time to play her in-loop role. "Friends? Just like that? I shouldn't… but I guess it doesn't matter any more."

She gave a deep sigh. "I'd like that. I had to leave my friends behind when I left."

"Aww! It's okay, you can make new friends here! I can help, I know every pony in Ponyville, and all the cows and donkeys and mules and everyone else. It'll be easy, I mean, I'm your friend, and we've only just met…" the pink pony's brow furrowed in thought, "… though it seems like I've known you for a long time."

That had Twilight confused. Was Pinkie's Pinkie sense, or one of the other reality bending talents that she regularly displayed letting her sense the loops? She covered it with a grin. "Well I'm glad to meet you, Pinkie Pie. Could I have half a dozen of your pineapple perfect muffins please?"

Pinkie's eyes widened. "Golly, you're even smarter than I thought! I only just invented them today! I hadn't even put them out for ponies to try yet."

She hoofed over a half dozen delightful looking muffins as Twilight mentally kicked herself. "Uh… Mysterious Librarian Powers. You have to be able to sense hidden cake to stop people leaving crumbs or icing on the pages when they're browsing."

Pinkie gave her a long stare, then exclaimed. "Okie Dokie Lokie! Since you're new in town, have them on the house, or rather the shop."

"I'll need a long ladder then. Sorry, I mean that's very generous."

Fortunately Pinkie liked the joke and chuckled. "You're a lot more fun than our last librarian."

"Um… I read a lot of joke books? Speaking of books, I've still got a ton of work to do getting the library sorted out before I go to bed."

Twilight went away with a smile on her face and a song in her heart. Admittedly making friends with Pinkie was hardly a great feat, but to be honest, this was a far better first meeting than her original one. She was considering how to set up similar meetings with her other friends, and didn't notice when someone came around a corner.

She and a white coated unicorn ended up sprawled on the ground, but her telekinesis grabbed her bags of groceries, her muffins, and the bundle Rarity had been carrying before they hit the ground. Okay, maybe there was some force drawing her to the other elements. She reacted pretty much as she would have anyway.

"Oh my gosh! I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!" Twilight sprung to her hooves and offered a hoof up. Her bun was undone and white mane hair was straggling out.

"No harm done, I should have been more careful myself." The unicorn used the proffered hoof to help herself up and dusted herself off with deft flicks of telekinesis. "Thank you for saving my new design. If it had ended up in the dirt, it would have been ruined. And I made is especially for the Summer Sun Celebration."

"Glad I could help." Twilight had always wondered why Rarity had shown up to the Celebration without a dress, maybe in the base line she'd run into some-pony else with slower reflexes.

"Oh, my dear, aren't you straining to carry all that?"

Twilight realised that she was still holding up the various items, a tricky load for most unicorns, without showing visible effort. She moved her groceries back into her saddlebags, the box of muffins back onto her saddle, and proffered the dress to Rarity. "It's alright, I'm a librarian, I've had a lot of practice. Books are heavy."

"Oh? What's a librarian doing in Ponyville?" The white unicorn laid the bundle gently across her own saddle.

"Running a library… I hope." Twilight quipped. "I'm taking over Golden Oaks, I just got into town today. I'm Codex, by the way."

"My goodness, where are my manners? I am Rarity, fashonista and proprietor of Carousel Boutique."

"Pleased to meet you." Twilight held out a hoof, which still had dirt on it. "Oh… sorry!"

"Oh, come my dear, we must get you cleaned up after your little mishap…" Rarity turned around and started leading her towards the boutique. Despite the fact that this was perfect, Twilight felt she had to play her role.

She shook her head and hung back. "Please, you don't need to…"

"Nonsense, it's the least I can do for saving my dress." Rarity's tone brooked no argument, so Twilight reluctantly allowed herself to be led exactly where she wanted to go. As she expected, the quick clean-up turned into an impromptu dressing up session, as Rarity politely interrogated her. "So, darling, where exactly did you come from?"

Twilight had considered this, and decided it couldn't hurt to stick to the truth. Besides she knew how Rarity would react. "Sugar Cube Corner, but if you're asking where I lived before I came to Ponyville… Canterlot."

"_Canterlot_?! Oh, I am so envious! The glamour, the sophistication! I have always dreamed of living there! I can't wait to hear all about it! We are gonna be the best of friends, you and I… _Rubies_ ?! What _was_ I thinking? Let me get you some sapphires!"

Twilight wanted to see how this would have played out if she hadn't run away. "Wait! I'm sorry, but I'm not some fashionable society mare. I spend all my time in libraries, reading about stuff other ponies have done. I never really went out and did anything myself. This is the first time I've ever left Canterlot."

It was completely true for her in-loop self. She hung her head. "I'd like to be friends, but I'm sorry if I'm not what you hoped for…"

However, Rarity came through with flying colours as she'd expected. "Oh don't be silly my dear, you coming from Canterlot is merely the icing on the cake, so to speak. I'm sure we'll still be great friends. I love a good romance, or a mystery. Or even the occasional adventure novel."

Twilight didn't have to fake the big smile that brought to her face. "Do you like Daring Doo?"

She knew the answer to that; Rainbow Dash wasn't the only pony to be taken with the exploits of the pegasus professor of ponylithic puzzles. However, she wasn't that vocal about it. Rarity blushed. "I have to admit, I've read a tale or two. Not the most refined of ponies, but who can not love the way she finds lost treasures and beautiful magical gems."

"Now wait a second, what about the scene in The Griffon's Goblet where she has to get into the Griffon Ambassador's party to get a rubbing of the map on the ancient shield?" Twilight replied, showing her credentials as a Daring reader quite handily. "She may not be an elegant society pony normally, but she can pull it off when she has to…"

Twilight headed back to the library as night came and the moon rose. The discussion had carried on for long enough that Rarity had insisted on making dinner for them both. Twilight, or rather Codex had offered the muffins as dessert. They'd chatted about Daring Doo and other stories Rarity liked, and Twilight had even kicked in some gossip from Canterlot, the sort of things any-pony might know. Once again she'd hinted that something bad had happened to her while avoiding talking about it directly.

As with Pinkie this new first meeting with Rarity had been a lot more successful then the original one, and the burgeoning friendship far more solidly based. She took a deep breath of the fragrant night air and looked up at the mare shadow on the surface of the moon. She might not be doing it the usual way, but by Celestia, Twilight was still going to defeat the Nightmare and free Luna, one way or another. She wondered how her mentor was doing. Hopefully she wasn't taking the derailment of her plans too hard.

* * *

"Your highness!" Shining Armour came galloping up to the Princess's chambers at an unseemly rate, only to find the Princess Celestia poring over a stack of papers and ancient tomes, and looking decidedly frazzled. "I have news of my sister!"

"You've found her?" Shining was shocked at the naked relief in Celestia's voice.

"I'm afraid not. But I do know why. She bought a one way ticket to Manehatten at the railway station early this afternoon. I'm sorry your highness, I never even considered that Twily might leave Canterlot, I mean she's lived here all her life…"

He stopped as Celestia waved a hoof at him. "It isn't your fault, neither did I. It seems my student continues to surprise me with her actions. I assume you've already sent pegasi out after the train?"

"The fastest in the Royal Guard, a flying chariot and escort. Unfortunately, they may not reach the train until it reaches Manehatten. I impressed on them the need for speed, but if Twily is trying to lose herself, then there would be no better place than Manehatten to do it."

"Assemble a second team, Captain… Shining Armour. I will personally flash them there."

That knocked Twilight's brother back on his fetlocks. Princess Celestia's flash teleport ability was often talked about, but she almost never actually used it, much less carried others with her. With it, she could travel the length of Equestria in seconds.

"Yes your highness, at once…" he hesitated. "Forgive me, bit why is it so important that we find her right away? I'm sure we can track her down in a few days, even in Manehatten. For that matter, I'm sure she'll eventually contact our parents or myself once she's settled down. I know how she gets sometimes, but she'll calm down."

Princess Celestia sighed, and reached a decision. Time to make good on her vow to be more open about what was going on. Telling her brother would serve as practice for when she found Twilight.

"I'm afraid we do not have time." The princess indicated one of the cushions in the room. "I have to tell you a story of something that happened long ago, and the part Twilight was… _is_ to play in righting it. Once upon a time, in this land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together, and created harmony for all the land…"

She explained the history of herself and her sister, throwing in some elements that she hadn't been sure of when she wrote the original legend. Centuries of research showed that there had been something more than just her sister making up Nightmare Moon, a darker essence that had twisted her sister from simply disgruntled into world ending monster.

Then came the hard bit, explaining about the Elements of Harmony, and how his sister and five other as yet unknown ponies were apart of them. She even discussed her original reasoning as to why she'd handled things the way she had, and how she'd later realised her mistakes. By the end of it Philomena had flown over and was sitting on her shoulder, nestling into her mane, and crooning softly.

At the end, Shining Armour sat very quietly. It wasn't every day that you heard the confessions of a goddess. "You've given me a lot to think about…"

Celestia shook her head, getting a startled squawk from Philomena. "I wouldn't have asked of you or any of your troops what I've expected of Twilight, not without their full and informed consent at least. I'm… sorry, truly sorry, can you believe that at all times I wanted what was best for Twilight, that the last thing I wanted was for her to get hurt…"

She stopped herself. "Only the full power of the Elements can free my sister from that Nightmare, and only Twilight can properly reawaken the Elements and use their full power. I was so focussed on preparing her for that, that I forgot that there were other important things she needed to learn. I was at least as close to Luna as you are to Twilight, wouldn't you do anything to free your sister in a similar situation?" By the end she was all but pleading in tone.

"I… you don't have to justify yourself to me, your highness," Shining said quietly. "I am sworn to your service, to give my life to protect you if need be, and I know Twilight is at least as devoted to you."

Celestia gave a rueful smile. "That actually makes me feel worse. It only confirms that if I had started out being open with Twilight about what I needed her to do, she would have instantly volunteered. Hopefully I will still have time to do that, but if I don't, I need you to be at the Summer Sun Celebration."

"Of course, I will protect you…"

"NO!" Celestia was edging on using her Royal Canterlot voice, and Shining Armour's mane was blown backwards from the force of it. "Whatever you do, do not interfere! Empowered by the conjunction, my sister will be too powerful for me to defeat. Your defensive spells are without peer, but defence will not win this battle and free my sister. She has to capture me, so I can force her to divert most of her power into restraining me, and trapping me in the sun. That will give Twilight the chance to collect the Elements from the Palace and activate them."

"But Princess, won't that hurt you?"

"Consider it the contribution of a foolish old mare to the task of defeating Nightmare Moon and freeing my sister. The bearers of the Elements are in Ponyville, and it's my hope that wherever Twilight is, when she learns what has transpired she will come to find out for herself. You must pass on this knowledge in my stead. If there is any-pony in Equestria that Twilight will trust, it is you. Tell her everything, tell her I do believe in her, that she can do this, tell her…. I'm sorry."

"I will… I will prepare a recovery team at once."

Shining Armour bowed his head, and rose up from his cushion to take his leave, leaving the immortal alicorn princess alone with her thoughts, and her regrets.

"Princess Celestia?" The voice was Perriwig, her seneschal. "I apologise for disturbing you at this late hour, but there is the matter of a replacement overseer for the Summer Sun Celebrations. Who do I send in Twilight Sparkle's stead?"

The Princess sighed, the appointment was unimportant now that she couldn't use it to send Twilight Sparkle to Ponyville. However, she still had to find some-pony, or rather make sure some-pony was found. "Use your best judgement. I trust you will find some-pony suitable."

"As you command, your highness." he bowed and retreated. As he did he considered the choices. It should be some-pony of sufficient importance that the inhabitants of Ponyville wouldn't feel slighted. He'd thought Twilight Sparkle a poor choice anyway, while she might be close to Celestia and a good organiser she had little official standing…

Of course, he had the perfect candidate. He'd overseen the Celebration last year in Canterlot, and was a suitably important pony for the purpose. With a sense of purpose, he headed off to organise things. Whatever distress the Princess might be feeling over Twilight Sparkle's disappearance, at least this was one thing she wouldn't need to worry about. The Summer Sun Celebrations in Ponyville would go off without a hitch.

* * *

16.8

* * *

"Huh. Human again." Twilight scanned through her memories. Nothing particular, just that she'd recently moved house.

That made her feel uncomfortable. Loops almost always had _something_ going on. And when the other (horse)shoe didn't drop for a while, that usually meant it was something big.

Twilight would never forget the time Pinkie Pie materialized in front of her, warp goddess of the Eldar Empire.

"Wait…" A horrible suspicion dawned on her. Something Spike had teased her about for weeks.

She reached into her subspace pocket and pulled out a PADD, scrolling through the gathered fiction of the Hub Loop to find what she was after.

"Yep. Thought so."

Twilight put the PADD down next to her and sighed. "I'm replacing _Bella Swan_. Oh, I wish I had _TMS Harmony_ with me…" Right now, the dreadnought class ship would be a great equalizer. Sadly, it was a little big for her to easily fit in her subspace pocket – even now, let alone when she'd been in that Loop.

After a bit of feeling sorry for herself, she got a determined expression and stood back up. "Right. Where did I put that wand…"

* * *

There was nothing quite so satisfying as letting a Loop sort itself out. Well, _almost_ sort itself out.

"Right. And what happened next?" the assistant chief asked, flipping onto the third page of his notes.

"Well – I don't know if he actually did," Twilight said, shuddering, "but he told me that he was sneaking into my room and watching me sleep."

"Right…"

"And that's when I asked dad to handle it. I mean, he'd been worried before, but I thought it was just… nerves, you know? And he hadn't done anything _really_ creepy until then, but looking back…" The girl shrugged helplessly.

"Thank you for your time, miss Sparkle." The police officer closed his notebook. "I'm afraid this might go to court, but we'll try to keep the disruption in your life minimal."

"I appreciate it," Twilight said. "I'd just like everything to go back to normal, really."

That, at least, was true. A chance for several uninterrupted years of schooling in a nuclear-tech level world? Excellent!

* * *

"But you _can't_ arrest me!" Edward Cullen shouted. "My father will sort this out! He's done it before!"

"He has, has he?" Charlie Sparkle said, frowning. "And I thought he was such a nice man."

Edward thrashed at the handcuffs, which unaccountably failed to break.

* * *

Twilight grinned inside. There were no better targets for Mordenkainen's Disjunction than the Cullens, in her opinion.

And now the justice system could handle them _quite_ nicely.

"Right, where did I put that physics textbook…"

* * *

16.9

* * *

"You know what," Dash said suddenly, "buck it. Gilda, you take my slot."

The griffin blinked. "Dash… this… what? I mean, _what?_"

"Seems fairly simple, Gilda." Dash grinned. "You take my slot in the Best Young Fliers. You deserve a chance."

"But…" Gilda's beak opened and closed. She was at a loss for words for almost ten seconds, until she finally came up with something to say. "Dash… don't do this! I mean, you've wanted to do well at the Best Young Fliers for years!"

"So have you, you told me as much training last week." Dash shrugged. Then she caught Gilda's eye, and winked. "Besides, I think I'm _easily_ awesome enough to get the attention of the Wonderbolts anyway. It isn't as if a broken down old hen like you is going to have a chance!"

Gilda's eyes widened, and her ruff rose. "Did you just call me a _broken down old hen_?"

"Well…" Dash drew out the word, now looking sly. "You _could_ always prove me wrong."

The griffin seethed. "You bet I will, Dash! You'll eat those words!" Suddenly, she laughed. "Well, I'm good and motivated now! I didn't think you ponies could be that devious!"

Dash gave her a fierce grin. "Hey, we haven't been invaded in decades. Why do you think?" Dash gestured skywards. "Make me proud, Gils."

Gilda shot into the air.

* * *

"Huh…" Dash said, squinting up. "Don't remember seeing any pegasus use the clouds like that."

Twilight nodded. Gilda was darting from cloud to cloud such that only a few ponies were able to properly follow her movement. To the rest of them, it looked like she was entering one cloud and then appearing from a completely different one seconds later.

She was definitely getting the full benefit from joining Dash's exhausting training regimen over the last few months, that was for sure.

Then the griffin started simply gliding. Most pegasi made use of thermals, but Gilda was clearly a master of the art – even spinning her own thermals with minute movements of her wings that resonated in the air.

"Hey, I think she's impressed Spitfire," Twilight suddenly said, pointing with a nod of her head. "Think they'll have to redesign the Wonderbolt outfit?"

Gilda had entered a dive while they weren't watching. Now she stooped on the main stage at well over half the speed of sound, flaring her wings to cancel her momentum perfectly on the floor itself.

Her landing was light as a feather.

"Interesting," Twilight said as they applauded. "I like the combination of poise and grace, there…"

"_I'm_ wondering if I should get her to try for the Rainboom," Dash replied. "She was getting pretty fast there."

"Could be interesting. Let me know if you need help with that," Twilight said contemplatively. "I know a fair amount about pegasus magic theory, though you're second to none at the practical side."

* * *

16.10

* * *

Luna stumbled.

She was… _Luna_, again. Why? What had caused the burning rage, which had enveloped her for the last thousand years, to so abruptly dissipate?

Accepting there wouldn't be a quick answer, the Princess of the Night prepared to dream-walk – nothing major, just to observe. If she was to return, it had best be with a full understanding of how culture had developed.

* * *

Twilight grinned. "Nice to see you, Nyxie."

"Thanks, momma!" Nyx returned the grin. "Hey, I came up with a great idea for a joke to play on Celestia!"

The unicorn listened carefully, occasionally offering corrections or asking questions.

* * *

_Dear Princess Celestia,_

_I have come across a young filly who I think would be an excellent applicant to your academy. While I understand that normally those wishing to attend are sponsored by their parents, in this case I feel that I must strongly recommend her attendance on my own authority – such as it is and what there is of it, of course._

_Your faithful student,_

_Twilight Sparkle._

* * *

Twilight looked up as Spike burped up a scroll. "Is that the reply?"

"Yeah…" Spike skimmed through it. "Basically, yes. She's scheduled an exam for this afternoon."

"Yay!" Nyx said, bouncing around. "Thank you, Twilight!"

"You deserve it," Twilight said, smiling down at the overexcited filly. It was true enough – while Nyx didn't have access to quite the power of an adult alicorn, she still had a _lot_ of magic at her disposal. And since she'd once turned Fluttershy into a tree…

And, just to make a point of sorts, Twilight had given her a cosmic spectrum crystal pendant to wear. It looked good on her, too…

* * *

"Alright," Celestia said, entering the examination room. Since there was no need to bring parents along and since classes were in session, the room was nearly empty – she'd decided to attend personally, because that way she could also see how Twilight was doing.

Then she blinked. "…what?"

"Hi!" the _alicorn_ filly said, running over. "Are you Princess Celestia? Oh, sorry, that's a stupid question, of course you are! My name's Nyx!"

"Twilight," Celestia asked, "…where did you say you found her?"

"I didn't, actually…" Twilight shrugged. "What's the first part of the test?"

Now seriously wrong-hoofed, Celestia answered without thinking about it. "Conjuration."

"Okay," Nyx said, concentrating. Her horn glowed, and her wings half-spread with the effort…

And, with a cloud of smoke, Princess Luna fell to the floor in a tangle of limbs.

"…oops," Nyx blushed. "Who's she? I think I messed up…"

Celestia's eyes darted from Nyx, to her Cosmic Spectrum pendant, then to her sister. "…pass, full marks."

Twilight grinned. She knew what Celestia would be guessing thanks to the presence of the pendant – Nyx had somehow ascended beforehand by way of her pendant, clearly wasn't evil because the stone would show up the presence of evil, and therefore this _was_ an accident. "Hear that, Nyx?"

"Yay!"

* * *

AN:

...not much to say this time, except that I like reviews...


	17. Chapter 17

17.1

Rarity passed Spike another gemstone. "Can you round this one off?"

"Sure." Spike carefully whetted the ruby with his claws, slicing off the cornered edges and following that up by rolling it around in his paws. "There you go; that should be fine."

She plucked it from his hands without looking, and slotted it carefully into a recess in the outfit she was designing. "Right, that should do…" Needle and thread worked, sealing over the recess so that the gem was concealed beneath a thin layer of silk.

"So, what are you going for?" Spike asked, drilling a hole through a sapphire with his claw.

"Well," Rarity said, "I'm trying to make something to work as Applejack's semi-permanent coronation dress. Something for her to default to, if you see what I mean." She caught sight of the blue stone, and winced. "Oh, dear, did I give you a sapphire? Oops – that should have been an emerald, since I'm trying to stick to apple-related colours."

Spike nodded. "Right – I'll try to remember that myself. Can I…?"

"Go ahead."

The dragon popped said sapphire into his mouth, shattering it with his teeth and swallowing. "Delicious. So, why are the gems not so apparent?"

"Well, _you_ know Applejack…" Rarity moved her work light over the outfit. "The gems aren't immediately visible, but they still colour the silk over them. It's to represent how her country-girl nature is still her foundation – as the silk is foundation to the dress – but it conceals refinement within."

"Ah, I see." Spike frowned. "Wouldn't cotton work better? I mean, it _is_ a plant, and silk thread is animal based and usually associated with wealth itself…"

"…drat." Rarity rolled her eyes, and the dress flew apart in a burst of telekinesis. Cotton snaked in and started to reassemble the base frame. "Well spotted… I can't believe I missed that."

Spike started in alarm. "Won't that wreck all the work you've done so far?"

"Not really, no…" the unicorn assured him, still focusing on her work. "A lot of what I do is… building the image in my mind as I build the dress itself. Since I've already got a fair way into the process, I can just reconstruct what I've already done."

Her horn glow died down. "There. See?"

Spike nodded. "Very impressive. Oh – what did you want next?"

"Peridot, please," Rarity said, frowning at the area of the spine. "And then some topaz."

"…there are yellow apples?"

"I admit," Rarity shrugged, "Applejack doesn't seem to grow many. But they do exist – from a different part of her family, but it's there. Now, how do I handle the wings…"

* * *

"There we go," Rarity said eventually, "I think it looks fairly good."

Spike evaluated the dress. It looked fairly simple, mostly white, but with more than enough trimmings in orange to keep it from being considered a bridal dress. But when the light hit it, it shimmered green-red-orange-yellow. In fact, the way the colours of the smaller gems moderated the larger ones, it had the rough complexion of an apple as well.

The wings were properly accommodated for, as well – an ingenious fold in the fabric on each side concealed holes, and when extended the wings would be able to beat without stretching the dress too much.

On the other hand, there were so many gemstones in it that it could probably deflect crossbow bolts, entirely separate from the enchantments woven into it. That made flying a chancy prospect for anyone who _wasn't_ either an alicorn or Rainbow Dash.

"Interesting, certainly…" he said diplomatically. "I'm just afraid that AJ might consider it too frou-frou for her."

"You aren't suggesting that my dresses are too frou-frou, are you Spike?" Rarity asked, with a pleading note in her town that was almost entirely feigned.

"No, no," Spike assured her. "A hypothetical Applejack is suggesting that."

"Well, so long as it's only a hypothetical one, then I'll endure it quite well," Rarity said tartly. "I might test her reaction to a lesser version of this – one without the wing holes – though I'll probably need your help for that one as well."

"No problem," Spike said. "Same time next week?"

"Alright, then," Rarity replied. "It's a- time."

Neither of them commented on what she'd nearly said.

* * *

"So, how'd it go?" Twilight asked.

"Alright," Spike said, shrugging. "I helped her make a dress – very gemstone heavy. Learned quite a lot about how gemstones hold enchantments, too, which was interesting." Then he grinned. "And I don't think I'll need dinner tonight, either – shaved crystals."

Twilight nodded. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself."

"What are you working on, by the way?" Spike asked, looking at her paperwork.

"Oh," Twilight shifted the papers. "I'm trying to arrange a clerical error that has Discord's statue shipped to the Griffins."

"Huh." Spike paused. "Why?"

"Why not?" Twilight replied. "I mean, we'll be on call in case it turns out to be less funny and more tragic. But I'm partly wondering if he even _can_ discordify a griffin – does he just rely on the magic of cutie marks?"

"Fair enough."

* * *

17.2

"Twilight!" Trixie said, trotting over. "I have a perfect plan for Nightmare Night!"

"Oh?" Twilight asked, looking over Trixie's costume.

The younger looper was, in fact, dressed as _Maleficent_ – hopefully just a fashion choice… but after a moment Twilight mentally shrugged. After all, she'd worn practically every Nightmare Night costume she could think of.

For that matter, she was just going to ascend for her costume this time.

"Observe!" Trixie said, lifting something from the nearest rooftop and bringing it down for investigation. "A simple firework."

"Yes…" Twilight said, warily.

"It is completely safe, having only enough fuel to fly for half a second, and burns up completely upon exploding – the actual pyrotechnics come from a small bound spell which produces only light," Trixie continued, indicating components of the rocket.

"Right." Twilight nodded. "Looks nice and safe. Entirely subdued. _How many did you set?_"

Trixie pondered. "Not sure. I lost count somewhere around twelve thousand."

"Celestia's star, Trixie!" Twilight said, then lowered her voice at the looks of ponies around them. "Sorry. But with that many-"

"At least twice that many. I lost count many times."

"With a minimum of twenty-four thousand fireworks, it doesn't matter how small they are, it's going to look like the whole town's exploding." Twilight threw up her hooves. "Right, I suppose it's too late to take them down again. But be careful!"

* * *

Luna circled Ponyville, preparing for her return to partake of the festivities in this Nightmare Night.

Something about her dark side? She wasn't sure of the details. About all she'd been able to get out of Celestia was that costumes were worn.

Then there was a huge _bang_, followed by a hissing shriek that went on and on. Her guards nearly flubbed their wingbeats as Ponyville was enveloped in fire and smoke.

Red and orange and yellow sparks fountained out of the top of a smoke-shrouded cone shape as she looked on, astonished. There were periodic explosions, sending the smoke rippling away, and then a huge shape of winged fire shot skywards. Extending feathered wings with a _craaaack_, it turned – revealing itself to be a huge phoenix – and ascended into the heavens.

* * *

"Don't you think you overdid it!?" Twilight shouted, hooves and wings over her head.

Trixie adjusted her hat as firework launch sticks rained down. "Not really. All Trixie did was give Ponyville itself a Nightmare Night costume – as the site of the birth of a phoenix!"

"…phoenixes don't do that," Twilight deadpanned. "Seriously, when they hatch they just _hatch_. They're birds, not volcanoes."

"Oh." Trixie shrugged. "Better than nothing."

Luna's chariot half-crashed into the library. The princess and her guards tumbled out, running for cover as Luna snapped off spells skywards.

"Princess!" Twilight called. "Over here!"

"WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!" Luna shouted. "SOME KIND OF GRIFFIN TRICK, WE THINK!"

Twilight shook her head in exasperation. This was going to be one hell of a letter to Celestia. (The salient point would probably be 'please don't invade the Griffin Lands').

* * *

17.3

Celestia ran, the sick taste of failure in her mouth.

Her student – her _beloved_ student – had fallen into corruption no less deep than Luna's own, of a thousand years past. And all five of her friends had fallen the same way.

She was being chased through her own castle by six twisted alicorns, who blew walls and columns aside to follow her.

Then there was a blur of motion.

"Haha! Have at thee!" a familiar voice said, accompanied by a musical series of twangs.

Celestia turned to find Discord – _Discord?_ – holding off dark-Applejack and dark-Fluttershy with a piano in one hand and a duck in the other.

"Celestia!" he said, shouting over his shoulder while making it rain tofu to slow the alicorns down. "Retreat! Get out of the castle, I'll join you outside!"

Thoroughly confused, Celestia looked for a good escape route. The windows caught her eye, but dark-Rainbow Dash shot past them as she made for the closest.

Another Discord ran past her in the other direction, wielding a swordfish and a scroll marked 'FiM script, S4E1'. "They're this way as well!"

Her head swivelled. Yes, the first Discord was still where she'd last seen him, and the second one wasn't something she'd imagined – he was dance-battling dark-Pinkie Pie.

"Hurry up!" Discord implored her. "You're the only one who can use the Elements of Blarmony!"

Celestia frowned. "Elements of _WHAT?"_

Both Discords and all four visible alicorns sighed. Twilight and Rarity materialized next to Celestia, and all six of them went back to normal.

"Smooth move, Doofus," Twilight said, hitting the left one on the head with a baguette the right one handily provided. "You couldn't have come up with a better name?"

"I was under pressure, so sue me." Discord crossed his arms and huffed. The other one put on a lawyer's wig and began taking depositions from the six Element bearers.

"…what?" Celestia said helplessly.

"Sorry, Celestia," Twilight apologized. "Next time we'll do much better."

"... What do you mean, _next time_?!"

Ignoring her mentor, Twilight turned to point at Discord and Pinkie. "This is the last time I let you two plan our pranks."

"Why's that Twilight?" Pinkie asked, tilting her head.

"Because you're _really_ bad at it – too much improv. Seriously, next time Applejack and Fluttershy plan the prank, although you can of course offer suggestions."

* * *

17.4

"Okay," Luna said, finishing her note. "Celestia's Awake, as well… I checked."

"How?" her double asked.

"We have a code. A flag she puts up if she's Awake, so I can scry for it." Darkness enveloped the note and it vanished. "Anyway, it's sent."

"Good."

Both of them sniggered.

* * *

"Well, well, my beloved subjects," Nightmare Moon began.

"Excuse me?" a cross voice said from offstage. Another Nightmare Moon walked onto the dais from the left side. "_Your_ subjects?"

"They're mine as _well," _the first one said indignantly. "I think."

"Oh, you think?" the left one said. "Well, _I know._"

"Doesn't matter." One Nightmare Moon stuck her tongue out at the other one. "'cause it's _my_ Night."

"No it isn't."

"Is too."

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

The assembled ponies of Ponyville watched with utter confusion as the two Nightmare Moons argued like fillies.

"Is too, a hundred thousand times!"

"Is not, infinity times!"

The one who hadn't just spoken paused, staring at her hooves. "Is too… infinity plus one times!"

"That's just infinity times. I win." Another stuck-out tongue.

"Why you…" The right-hand Nightmare Moon reared up, and slapped her counterpart on the cheek.

The other one touched the mark, and then slapped back.

"…what the buck?" Rainbow Dash whispered to Twilight. "Is that evil alicorn having a slap fight with herself?"

Twilight shrugged.

Suddenly, there was an explosion of light in the corner. "GIRLS!"

Both dark alicorns froze, blushing guiltily.

"Why are you arguing?" Celestia asked, stepping from the flare of her appearance.

"She started it," the left one said quickly.

"Did not!"

"Girls!" Celestia sighed. "Fine, I don't want to know. Just say sorry to one another."

"…sorry," the right hand one said grudgingly.

"Sorry to you too."

"Right. All better?"

The two Nightmares nodded. "Yes, big sister."

"Right. Now, go to your rooms. I'll deal with you later." As the two identical alicorns vanished in teleports, Celestia turned to the crowd. "Sorry, my younger sisters can be a little impetuous at times. Where were we?"

* * *

Laughter rang in the halls of Princess Luna's room.

"That was _hilarious!"_ Luna said, finally calming herself enough to speak.

The alicorn filly on the bed giggled. "Bet we confused everypony!"

Luna nodded. "Yep. You know, Nyx? I like your style."

* * *

17.5 (QI based Loop)

Twilight shuffled her papers. "Good evening, good evening, good evening, good _evening!_ And welcome to QA, the show that's all about things which are amazing. With me tonight are the Monarch of Mirth, Discord!"

The assembled audience applauded.

"The Sovereign of the Stars, Nightmare Moon!"

More applause.

"The Mistress of Mutability, Queen Chrysalis!"

A buzzing underlay this applause.

"And… the court jester, Prince Blueblood."

Blueblood rolled his eyes. He didn't know either why or how Twilight Sparkle had managed to get three major threats to Equestria onto her panel game, but Auntie had made him be the recurring guest.

"Right." Twilight's horn glowed, and an illusion appeared in the air – the city of Manehattan. "The first question is, why is Manehattan called the Big Apple?"

Blueblood pressed his buzzer, which produced a short burst of circus music. That made him seethe – and he'd bet a thousand bits the other three had some kind of royal march.

"Yes, Blueblood?" Twilight said.

"It's from a series of race meetings," he answered confidently.

Alarms went off, the words "race meetings" appearing in place of the skyline.

Twilight shook her head, as Blueblood triggered one of the "wrong answer" traps. She had to set them up ahead of time, so it was just bad luck – or credulousness – which meant he kept hitting them. "No, sorry, that's not correct."

Discord buzzed in with a brief snatch of _The Duke of Plaza-torro._ "It's because the Apple clan were involved in settling it."

"Is the right answer!" Twilight conjured more images.

Nightmare Moon spoke up. "Was that not when they were a family of nobility?"

"That's right, points for that," Twilight said. "Not many know that the Apples at one point had a patent of nobility. I understand that it more-or-less lapsed fifty years or so later when none of them really _wanted_ it; though their seat in the parliament lost through the patent was quickly replaced by one won in election."

* * *

17.6

"What do you want to do, Rarity?" Spike asked. "Next time, I mean."

Rarity frowned. "…surprise me."

"Really?" Spike blinked. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." The unicorn nodded emphatically. "This is supposed to be a two way street, but you've just been a little too accommodating… which is sweet of you, but it doesn't give me much of an idea of what _you_ like."

"Fair point." Spike scratched the back of his neck. "I'll see what I can think of, then."

* * *

"I don't know," Twilight said, shaking her head. "And if I did I wouldn't tell you. She has a point."

"I guess so." Spike hung his head, then looked up again and started walking off muttering to himself.

* * *

"Alright," Rarity said eventually, "this is a fairly pleasant walk, but I'm sure that's not what you were going for."

"Not really, no," Spike replied.

"And I suspect what you _are_ going for is in that bag?"

"Yep." Spike adjusted the strap. "Not far to go…"

Around a minute later, they emerged into a fair sized clearing – the first they'd encountered in the hour or two they'd been walking through White Tail Woods.

At the far end were a number of round straw butts, with concentric rings painted on them.

Rarity squinted. "Are those… archery butts?"

"Yep." Spike slung the bag down off his shoulder and extracted a yew longbow, as well as a smaller bow made with more modern composites. "Which would you rather use?"

She took the smaller bow. "This one, I think… I didn't know you liked archery."

"It's a kind of Jedi training – I don't know if Twilight told you about that whole thing?" She shook her head, so Spike went on. "Basically, my… third loop, I think, Twilight and I were part of this kind of awesome order of ninja magic monks. They taught a lot of self control stuff, which…"

Spike broke off and gestured to himself. "It's been kind of helpful for me, it's where the age shifting got started. And it's been useful otherwise. But archery's really helpful training how to use some of the powers – because if you can see where the arrow would hit if you let go, then you can aim it properly. And that helps train precognition."

"You can see the future?" Rarity asked.

"Only really, really close in stuff. Second or two." Spike shrugged self-deprecatingly. "It's based on what almost _has_ to happen, unless you do something different – more or less. I don't really follow it myself… anyway." He picked up the yew bow and an arrow, and began breathing steadily.

An image began to appear in his mind – an arrow, striking the outer ring of the straw. Concentrating on the image, willing it to stay stable, he tracked slowly across until the arrow hit dead centre.

Then he released the string.

Rarity applauded politely as it struck. "Very well done."

"Thanks," he said, blushing slightly. "Your turn."

The whole smaller bow glowed and lifted into the air, accompanied by an arrow. Rather than vertically as Spike had to, the unicorn held hers horizontally – sighting carefully down the arrow, and then raising it slightly.

_Swoosh-thwack!_

Spike blinked at the arrow, right on the outer ring of the bull. "Wow." Then he looked suspicious. "Have you done this before?"

"Guilty as charged!" Rarity said. "I actually do this a little myself – though not to any great standard."

"If that's not a great standard, I'd like to see what is…" Spike said. "Shall I move them further away?"

"That would be nice."

* * *

17.7

**"Crystals."**

"Okay!" Pinkie said abruptly, pulling out a hat and apron – followed by a table, a cash register and a sign. "Welcome to Crystal Catering, can I take your order?"

Sombra blinked. **"What?"**

"We~ll…" Pinkie slid a menu across the table and checked her hat. "We have a full selection of crystal varieties – Olivine structure to Quartz structure, and in carbon or silicon-based with various additives. If you want an ionic structure, that's extra unless it's on the menu."

**"Um…"** The startled unicorn took the menu and began reading it out of reflex. **"Barite bonanza, please."**

"Okay, coming up!" Pinkie vanished through a door that hadn't been there before, and turned up again after a lot of grinding noises. She passed the plate to him and pointed out a table. "Here you go! Extra Iridium on top."

**"Thank you."** Sombra dropped some bits on the counter and turned for the table.

"…_seriously?_" Shining Armor asked. "He was _hungry?_"

Pinkie shrugged. "I dunno."

* * *

17.8 (Serenova)

Twilight awoke sitting in a chair. It was nice to be sitting down for once. Before she even opened her eyes she checked her loop memories. The fact that she felt funny sitting in the chair meant that she wasn't in her normal quadrupedal form.

She had to hold back a groan as she realized this was another Trek loop. At least she wasn't shaped like a pony this time - THAT had been one bucking weird loop.

Slowly taking inventory of her loop memories, she figured out her family history and that she was on the Enterprise-D. That would explain the slight vibration she felt through her boots. Finally opening her eyes she took a look around and took stock of her quarters. From what she knew of this loop, it was standard crew quarters. Bedroom, bathroom (sonic shower included) and living area. She was seated at the desk in the desk in the living area, apparently going over reports from some physics experiment she was working on. As she began reading through the notes on the PADD in front of her she was interrupted by the computer.

"Incoming transmission from Shining Armor," the computer intoned.

Twilight turned to the monitor on the desk and said, "On screen." The screen lit up and she was greeted with a very confused person, who, coincidentally was Shining Armor. "Shiny!" she said happily, "To what do I owe the honor?" She didn't know if this version of her brother was looping or not and didn't want to give anything away until she knew. None of the other elements were with her (she had felt along the connection and gotten nothing), but she had no magical connection with her brother to check.

"I'm awake Twilight, please tell me you know how to walk on two legs," Shiny said plaintively.

Twilight burst into giggles at her brother. "It's easier to use your loop memories for moving around," she said through her giggles. "I'm about…" and she paused to check how far she was from their supposed home, "Twelve hundred light years from you right now, so you're on your own with getting around," she finished.

"Aww, man, and Cadence isn't awake either," Shiny almost whined.

"Don't you start that with me B.B.B.F.F.!" Twilight said with a smile, "You'd just grab her and go on another honeymoon. I'm going to try to grab some tech to have for when we're back home while we're here. I'm thinking some tricorders will do well, along with some medical supplies."

Shining Armor just shook his head at his sister, "You do that, I'm going to figure out what in the world I actually do here. I'll talk to you later," he said, and the connection went dead.

Shaking her head, Twilight went back to what she had been doing this loop.

Three days and a skirmish with the Romulans later, she was praying for this loop to be over. She'd already replicated two tricorders (one science, one medial) and stuffed them in her subspace pocket. She'd also nabbed a hypospray and some extra PADDs with medical and scientific data in them. She figured the looping Applebloom and Scootaloo would appreciate it at least, along with adding to her own reading. She only wished that there was actual paper around, but she'd live. It was harder to not slip up around Captain Picard. She was very experienced with random loops by now, but even non-Looping Picard could be intimidating. Especially when Twilight's base self in this loop was much like the studious original Twilight before she started looping.

Eventually, Twilight managed to enjoy herself and relaxed for the rest of the loop. She was glad she wasn't replacing anyone important and simply let herself enjoy being along for the ride. Designating this as a recreational loop (even if she worked really – that science experiment she was running), would be nice.

* * *

17.9 (Indalecio) (Dragon Ball)

* * *

As Apple Bloom woke up she felt, different, this loop. Coupled with the new memories slamming into her and the fact that she no longer had hooves, she could tell that she was going to be human for that loop.

'Well, this is a new experience I reckon.' Twilight told her about some of the times that she was human, but it was the first time she was experiencing it for herself.

Apparently her name was Bloom Apple, and she along with her sister Jacqueline Apple were the heirs to the large and wealthy Seed Corp.

She turned back to the book and artifact she has been studying short before awakening. The Dragonballs, of which there were seven of, would grant one wish to whomever gathered them all. She had briefly considered wishing for the perfect colt...boyfriend.

'Need to watch those terms there.' Her sister Jackie, had always been the refined, social butterfly, and truth be told, she had been a little jealous of the attention she got. But, after awakening, it seemed a waste of the awesome power of the dragon.

'But what to wish for? I guess it'll come to me in time.' As she stepped out the door, she grabbed her backpack and took off for the unknown.

* * *

The boy named Goku sitting across from her kept giving her odd looks as they were eating. She was about to ask him about that when he finally spoke up.

"You're a looper, aren't you?"

It shouldn't have surprised her that there would be other loopers in this world, but it did. She finally found her voice.

"Yes, how did you know?"

"This is the third time I'm looping. The person you're replacing, Bulma Briefs, looks different than you, also."

"So what this this Bulma like?"

"She's one of my oldest friends, she's a bit spoiled, but she's a genius engineer."

"Hmm.."

"So whats it like where you came from?"

"Well, I and all my friends are ponies where we came from."

"A what?"

"Little horse."

Goku pointed to his throat.

"No...little horses. Ponies."

"Ahhh.." said realization, but there was a hint of mischief in his eyes.

"You..made that joke on purpose, didn't you?"

"May...be.." continuing he said "Do you ponies have martial arts?"

"Yeah, I been studying with my master Temple Fortress."

"Would you like to learn human martial arts?"

"A..hmmm"

* * *

Goku took a few arm and leg bands from a bag he carried with him. They were indentical to ones he wore.

"Put these on."

Taking the offered arm and leg bands, Applebloom noticed they were quite heavy.

"I spent a majority of my last loop learning Kaioshin magic, specifically learning on how to make thing heavy."

Realization hit her. "Oh these are for training."

"They seem heavy now, but after awhile you get used them. And then you get heavier ones."

Having put them on she felt like she could hardly move. This was definitly going to take some getting used to. She stretched her arms out and slowly waved them around.

"So what now?"

"We've got a turtle to rescue."

* * *

We awoke the next day and found the turtle just where Goku said he was. After talking with it, the turtle asked for some refreshments.

"Salt water? Seaweed? I don't think we've got seaweed, but salt water is doable" I got out a bucket, and put some water and salt in it.

Taking the salt water, the turtle drank. "The truth is, I've wandering around the past year and I've been trying all this time to get back to ocean"

I got out a map, and did some quick mental calculations. "Thats 120km from here. You're going in the wrong direction. Wow. Thats far."

The turtle looked cresfallen. "We could take him to ocean. Thats no big deal." said Goku.

I thought for a moment and fished around for my packet of seed caps. I selected one and after using, a hand cart appeared.

"We can use this and take turns."

* * *

My arms were ready to fall off by the time we reached the sea. I was used to pulling carts in my pony form, but this was a totally different experience. In the end, I did most of the pulling, while Goku scouted. I could hear various roars and shouts as Goku cleared the path before us, and in the end we got there without problems.

The turtle insisted on repaying us and after entering the ocean soon came back with a short, old man with a Turtle Shell on his back.

After greeting us and introducing himself as the Turtle Hermit, he sought to give us a reward.

"Come! Immortal Phoenix!" he shouted. After a few minutes of nothing happening, the turtle spoke up.

"Umm...the Immortal Phoenix died of food poisoning."

"Oh right. I was going to summon the Immortal Phoenix and grant you all eternal life.."

'If the Immortal Phoenix died of food poisoning, the immortality it granted probably wasn't it was cracked up to be' I thought to myself.

"...but instead, I'll give you this!"

"Nimbus! Come to me!"

This time, a cloud came down and stopped right in front of us.

"With this you'll be able to fly anywhere you want, but it only works for the pure of heart. Let me show you how it works." He jumped on it, and landed on top.

"Tada! Now you try it."

Goku seemed slightly surprised by this, but jumped on and rode around it for awhile and came back to a stop in front of us.

"Just like old times."

"What?"

"Nothing. Nothing."

I noticed what looked like the 3 star Dragonball hanging from the Turtle Hermits' neck. "Hey mister. Could we possibly have that ball thats hanging from your neck? It looks like one of the ones we've been searching for."

"She helped you out right?" the hermit asked the turtle.

"She practically pulled me all the way here!"

"Wow! Thats pretty impressive! Not many girls your age would've been able to do that. I guess you can have this. Its an old necklace I found at the bottom of the sea a hundred years ago." He handed the necklace to me and I examined it. It was the third star ball alright.

"Hey Bloom. Try to get on!" I gently tried stepping on the cloud and it took my weight. With more confidence, I climbed on and held onto Goku.

We thanked the Turtle Hermit and zoomed off into the night sky.

* * *

"Normally Bulma isn't able to ride this, but you seemed like a good person, and this opens up our options." he continued. "I think you impressed the Turtle Hermit, and I was a bit surprised as I've never seen him able to ride it before."

"Oh? Why not?

"He's actually a pretty decent guy, but he's usually really pervy." I giggled at that.

"So Goku, where to next?"

"I was thinking of trying to learn shapeshifting. Want to try?

"Sure."

* * *

We dropped by a place called Aru Village and after settling things there between Oolong and the villagers, we received the Six Star ball for our efforts.

"Oolong's a shapeshifter, but he never mastered it. Our next stop with Yamcha and Puar should go better as Puar's the better of the two."

"Who Yamcha and Puar?"

"Yamcha's a desert bandit. He joined us in our adventures, but never managed to keep up. He dated Bulma for awhile, but it didn't pan out. Puar is his friend and as I said, a shapeshifter. He looks like a blue flying cat most of the time, though."

After hitting a stretch of desert, Goku had Nimbus slow down. After searching awhile, we saw someone in the distance and sped to them.

What had seemed like one figure, quickly became two, a woman with rainbow hair and a flying orange pony.

"We're looking for Yamcha..the desert..bandit" and then Goku couldn't hold it together, he burst out laughing, nearly falling off the cloud, and after what he'd just told me, I couldn't blame him.

"Rainbow Dash? Scootaloo?" The two looked pretty angry by whole thing.

"Its Dashcha the dessert bandit!"

"And Scoot!"

"Whoever told you our names was way off. I'm not sure why you came out here, if you know of us, but you're going to regret it. Give us all your capsules and you money, and maybe we'll think of letting you live."

So, they weren't awake this time. And yet, being on this cloud, I couldn't help but smile at the irony of Rainbow being on the ground at this point. And apparently Goku couldn't either, for his own reasons, as he, unable to contain himself, finally did fall off the cloud.

"Sorry. Sorry. You just weren't what I expected." He sniffed and smiled. "Again. Sorry."

"Not sorry enough!" as she drew her sword and attacked Goku. Goku fought back, dodging and weaving and eventually knocking her on her butt.

"Feh. So you've got some skill afterall." Dashcha stood up and dusted herself off. "So why did you come out all this way."

I spoke up. "We actually came to see Scoot."

"We heard there was a shapeshifter in the area and wanted to see if you could teach us shapeshifting."

Scoot was about say something when Dashcha cut in. "Whats in it for us?"

"Ah've got one capsule with a car with a full tank of gas in it."

"Sounds fair. Alright, we accept." said Dashcha, Scoot still trying to get in a word edgewise.

* * *

"So I was going to say, I can unlock the ability to shapeshift, but after that, it takes a lot of practice in order to do it well."

"Ah'm okay with that. You can't get very far in anything without practicing."

"Okay, the two of you stand still for a moment." Scoots hovered over and placed her hooves on mine and Goku's forehead. I felt warm for a moment and I felt a whole less solid, like I could collapse into a pile of jelly at any moment.

"Okay, now try to these simple exercises..."

* * *

Goku's POV

While Bloom was practicing shapeshifting, I decided on trying to spar with Dashcha, again.

"So Goku, where'd you learnt to fight?" I dodged one of Dashcha kicks.

"From my grandpa, Gohan Son." And returned on of my own, which she didn't bother blocking, but as soon as she got up, she became all excited

"Oh my gosh! You're related to Gohan SOn? He's like really famous. After the Turtle and Crane Hermits, he's probably like the second strongest martial artist in the world. Oh hey! Let me get my scrapbook."

Living up her name, Dashcha ran off and in maybe 10 to 15 minutes later returned with a scrapbook. It had lots of old newsclipping and pictures of the Turtle Hermit, the Ox-King and Gohan Son.

"Wow. There isn't anything I'd wouldn't do to meet the Turtle Hermit, but he's probably dead by now. No one's heard from him decades. But I'd love to meet one of his students."

"Actually, we just saw the Turtle Hermit this morning. And my grandfather's on Mt. Paozu. I'm sure he'd love a visit from a fan."

"ohmygosh,ohmygosh,ohmygosh,ohmygosh,ohmygosh!" Dashcha started hyperventilating and grabbed me and screamed into my face. "Where! Where did you see him?"

"By the coast. I think he lives off on an island somewhere."

"This is so awesome! Scoots! We're going!" Dashcha grabbed Scoots hoof and ran off in the direction of the ocean.

"They didn't even take the capsule we promised them."

* * *

Bloom's POV

"I know the next Dragonball is on Frypan Mountain. I'm a little anxious. This is the time and place I met my future wife Chichi and her father the Ox-King."

We were zipping along on Nimbus heading for a next destination.

"Eh? What are they like?"

"The Ox-King is a huge mountain of a man, and very protective of his daughter. Chichi was also a fierce martial artist, and had a clumsy awkwardness she later grew out of. In her later years, she was very education minded, and made our eldest son, Gohan, study all the time."

"You named him after your Grandpa?"

Goku got quiet for a moment. "Yeah. In my original timeline, I….killed my grandpa without knowing it. You saw my tail right?" He wriggled it around for emphasis and it tickled my nose.

"Yeah, what's that got to do with anything?"

"If I have it, if it's not cut off, I transform into a giant ape when seeing the full moon, mindlessly destroying things and….people."

"In my first loop, I avoided looking at the moon, and my grandpa still lived in that loop. Along with learning Kaioshin magic, I also learned to control the were-ape form. It took a year of constantly transforming, but I managed to get it down. My grandpa still lives in this loop too, and for that I'm glad."

Goku continued.

"I think I see Frypan Mountain in the distance. Strange, it's not on fire. Let's land."

* * *

Goku's POV

I hopped off of Nimbus with Bloom right behind me. Up upon Frypan Mountain, I could see Ox-King's castle. Down below, was a small village bustling with activity.

"It seems so normal…" I scratched my head.

"Ah! You must be tourists! I knew a little advertising would pay off. Please, please let me show you around." I turned to the voice, seeing a girl about my age. She looked like Chichi, sounded like Chichi, but she wasn't Chichi. It must have been the purple hair, and purple wizard robe and hat.

"Chichi?"

"Excuse me?" She looked inquisitively at me.

"Are you Chichi?"

"Twi Lee."

"Wait. Are you Twilight Sparkle?" Bloom interjected.

"Oh! You must be loopers! I was wondering when someone else was going to show up. Honestly, I haven't the foggiest idea what I'm doing this loop. It's all very refreshing."

Uh oh. Guess I'd better not spoil any of it.

"It's me! Applebloom!" She pulled Twilight into a quick hug.

"Applebloom! You're….can't….breathe."

Bloom eased up and let Twilight down. "How are you? Have you seen any of the Cutie Mark Crusaders?"

"I'm good. I've just seen Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo, but they're not loopers this time, though they've replaced some friends of Goku, here."

"Pleased to meet you"

"Oh, so you must be familiar with this loop."

"Looped two times already. So far each has lasted about 80 years."

"Wow! That long? Ours just lasts a few years." She paused, and then continued. "So, when you landed, you said everything looked normal."

"Yeah, usually everything's on fire. The Ox-king sets fire to the area surrounding his castle to protect his treasure, but it goes out of control, and he isn't able to get inside."

"Oh dad… I guess it's kinda weird to be calling him dad… I convinced him not to do that. There's natural gas pockets all over the area. Instead, we're now mining the natural gas and using it heat the castle and surrounding residences…."

At this point I zoned out. Bloom looked really interested, and conversed excitedly with Twi Lee. I was hoping to pick up some science and engineering-fu, but I guess it wouldn't be this loop.

* * *

Goku and Twi Lee rode the nimbus until they started passing over a mushroom forest.

"Bloom, are you ready?" The disembodied voice of Bloom Apple answered from a suitcase that was also on this cloud.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"You sure this is going to work?"

"Yes! This is going to be great! First they'll see the dragonballs, and then 'Pow'!"

A minute later a rocket propelled grenade shot at them. Goku narrowly dodge but dropped the suitcase. He quickly turned around, but someone in a mini-mecha ran up and grabbed suitcase.

"Ah!"

"Wait!"

"Stop!" cried Goku waving his arms.

"Your acting is terrible."

"It worked, didn't it? Now we just need to chase after them, but not too fast."

* * *

The self-styled Emperor Pilaf stood with his underlings Mai, a woman sporting ex-Red Ribbon army fatigues and duster, and Shu, a short, dog-faced Ninja. We're not sure what Emperor Pilaf is, but he appears to a goblin in what could charitably be called a clown suit.

"All the dragonballs! At last the world will be mine!" Emperor Pilaf cackled loudly and his henchmen soon joined in.

"Wait, why does one of the Dragonballs have eyes?"

There was a large puff of smoke, and then 'Pow!'

* * *

"This is Bloom. Come in Goku and Twi Lee." Bloom spoke into her cellphone over the 3 unconscious forms of Pilaf, Mai and Shu and all 7 Dragonballs.

"We read you."

"I've got the Dragonballs."

"Did you have trouble?"

"E-nope"

* * *

Miles away from there, on the desert floor, three figures assembled with all seven Dragonballs gathered before them. The balls glowed, and a giant purple dragon appeared.

"I AM SPIKRON, THE ETERNAL DRAGON. SPEAK YOUR WISH NOW, AND I WILL GRANT IT."

Bloom stepped forward. "I want all our friends from Ponyville and all Goku's friends to be awake in this loop."

"I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT."

Bloom explained the situation.

"THAT IS BEYOND MY POWER. SPEAK ANOTHER WISH AND I WILL GRANT IT."

Bloom thought for a moment. "You know Goku's saiyan heritage and giant monkey form. I want something very similar to it, just as giant equine form." Turning to Twi Lee, she asked "Do you want in on this?"

Twi Lee frowned. "No, I'm good."

"Okay, then just for me."

"IT SHALL BE DONE!"

Out of the base of Bloom's back appeared a long red pony tail.

"YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED! FAREWELL!" the eternal dragon vanished, the balls dimmed to pieces of rock and scattered to the four corners of the world.

* * *

Goku frowned for a moment. "That might not have been the best wish to make. You'll be at the mercy of the full moon, and the transformation is quite painful, blinding you to what's going on around you."

"You mastered it, didn't you?" said Bloom absentmindedly, examining her new tail.

"Well, yeah, but it took me a year. A long year of waking up naked surrounded by destruction. Just be careful not to look at the moon until you get it. Meditate and train a lot, it should help, especially the meditation."

There was a pause and Twi Lee spoke.

"I kinda wish Spike had been awake, though. I can't wait to tell him about this."

Bloom continued examining her tail. "He was pretty cool."

"You know the Dragon?

"He's my assistant back in my home loop, but he's only a baby at the time. Just yea tall", said Twi Lee, gesturing.

Goku turned to Bloom. "Well we found the Dragonballs, mission accomplished. What do you plan on doing now?"

"Hmm…Ah've got school in a couple of weeks, so I'm probably going to go home. What about you two?"

"Twi Lee and I have been talking. We're going to visit my grandpa on Mt. Paozu for a bit, and then maybe wander around. Maybe see Otherworld. I might be able to coax King Kai into teaching us more Kaioshin magic."

"Sounds fun. Do you want to meet up again when the Dragonballs return?"

"Count on it!"

* * *

And time passed. Goku and Twi Lee travelled around. They visited Goku's grandpa on Mt. Paozu, the Turtle Hermit, King Kai and finally found themselves on planet Yardrat, generally seeing the sights, and picking up new tricks when they could.

* * *

Goku and Twi Lee use instant transmission to travel to King Kai's planet, appearing in a flash of light. They fall before King Kai and genuflect.

"Please train us!"

"Who are you people?"

* * *

After Bloom experimented with her were-pony for the first time, she vowed to make the creation of stretchy clothes a priority.

* * *

Dashcha finally found the Turtle Hermit and began training with him. Later as Bloom went to search for the Dragonballs again, Dashcha approached her with a request.

"Training with the Turtle Hermit is a dream come true. But I keep wondering, with him being so old now, What was he like in his prime? I gotta know. I heard the Dragonballs can grant any wish. I want to see and be trained by Master Roshi in his prime. Can we ask the Dragon to grant that wish?"

* * *

We eventually found some of the other Elements of Harmony.

Rarity and SweetieBelle had taken the place of Goku's old rivals Tien and Chaotzu and we confronted them at the world tournament.

* * *

Rarien, sporting a small blue gem in the centre of her forehead and clad in a purple sari, confronts Dashcha at the Tenkaichi Budokai tournament.

"Your orange gi clashes with my purple sari. We'll have to fix that," said Rarien with a smirk and small emphasis on the way she said "fix".

* * *

Fluttershy took the place of Launch, now calling her self Kachushy, and was taking care of Piccolo Jr, after we had dealt with his genocidal father.

* * *

Kachushy stands before a Piccolo that's at least a head taller than her and stares him in the eyes.

"No Piccolo, you're not killing anyone, you hear? I thought I taught you better than that!"

"Yes, mom."

* * *

Pinkie Pie we didn't find until many years later.

* * *

A dwarfish alien clad in wizard robes stands before a large organic sphere that suddenly split in two. The room fills with steam.

"Yes, yes! Arise Majin Pie and serve Babidi as you've served my father before."

Finally a woman with bright pink skin and clad in a stereotypical genie's clothes appears.

"I feel sick"

She barfed four times, her mouth growing cartoonishly wide each time, each time vomiting up one the swallowed supreme kais.

"Ughhh…."

* * *

17.10 (by Ranma-Sensei) (Hey, Arnold)

* * *

"Huh, seems like I have a middle sister, this loop. Well, at least it's not Asuka, again. And it's definitely better than Ranma Heyerdahl."

Twilight opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was herself being human. The next, that before her stood a human girl, about 1.20 meters in height and wearing two pigtails of golden blond hair. "Uh, hi?"

The girl before her sighed exasperatedly. "Please don't tell me this is your first fused loop."

Twilight shook her head. "No, I just tend to awake mid-stride it seems, and I ran into a wall, this time." She smiled. "Twilight Pataki, nice to meet you. So, what do you do around here…. Helga?"

Helga G. Pataki grinned. "Oh, troll my peers, usually. When people around you have the mental capacities of Fourth-Graders, you've got to be inventive." She turned thoughtful. "I wonder if Arnold's awake."

Twilight searched her Looper memories. "The boy you have a crush on?"

Helga gave her a withering look. "I'm only saying this once: I. Love. Arnold. No crush, capiche?"

The pony-once-again-turned-human nodded frantically. "Okay, change of topic: Why am I wearing Gothic style clothes?"

* * *

Twilight sighed. Here she had hoped to get a chance at studying in a nuclear society school. Instead, all her peers seemed to want to do was slack off and beat up on younger students, as was currently the case….

"Yo, shorty!" the boy she had come to know as Wolfgang hollered, "Get your weird football head out of my way." The next moment he shoved Arnold against the hallway's wall.

Twilight bristled. "Wolfgang!" Stepping forward, she grabbed onto the boy's neck, which was considerably helped by the fact that she was bigger than him. "What do you think you are doing to my sister's friend?"

"More like _boy_friend, if you ask me." the spindly boy next to her sniggered.

Wolfgang flailed around. "Shut it, Edmund, and help me!"

At this point, Twilight had quite enough and swung the bully around, letting him drop on his ass behind her. "Get lost, Wolfgang."

"I will get you, Pataki, I swear. One day, I _will_ get you!"

"Yeah, right." Turning around, she said: "Boo." Laughing as the goon squad turned tail and ran, Twilight then helped Arnold up. "You alright?"

"I think so." Dusting himself off, the football-headed boy then extended a hand. "Arnold Shortman, Helga's boyfriend. And you must be Twilight, I presume?"

"Uh, yeah." Taking the proferred hand and shaking it, Twilight grinned. "So, I take it you are awake, too?"

"Yep, and as Helga, I am grateful you are nothing like Asuka or…." he shuddered, "Lina."

"Say…." Twilight gauged him. "What do I have to do around here to get some studying done?"

"I…. think I can help with that."

* * *

"This is great!" Twilight rolled around on her bed and squealed. The moment Arnold had shown her to the public library, her eyes had gone all watery. It was a little upsetting that it had taken so long to register for a library card, and only being allowed to borrow twenty books at once felt unfair, but according to Helga she had a rough timeframe of about one year and a half, so it was only a minor setback.

"Time to start having fun," she said, and opened the book labelled _Astrophysics 101_.

* * *

17.11 (Elmagnifico)

* * *

"So, why didn't you come forward? Most newly Awakened ponies seek me or the Princesses out for help within the first few Loops..."

Big Macintosh looked sheepish. After the scene Twilight had made at Sweet Apple Acres last night, he had wanted nothing more than to bury his head in one of his freshly-plowed fields. The fact that both his sisters were constantly badgering him about the cause of said fracas made the subject even more awkward.

Now, to clear the air, Twilight had offered to straighten things out (after a good day and a half's rest), on the condition that he agree to be interviewed.

He sighed. Talking had gotten easier as time went by, but he still didn't like doing it unnecessarily. Might as well get it over with.

"Well, ya see Ms. Twilight, ah didn't right notice for a while mahself. Mah routine's pretty straightforward, and some days it just runs into itself, often the only way ah keep track of time is from the seasons. Don't have much goin' on aside from the farm, so harvestin' and plantin's all that needs payin' attention to. Plus, weird stuff happens around mah sister an' y'all mighty frequent, so things lahk a moon goddess attackin' th' Summer Sun Celebration didn't tip me off the first time it all repeated."

Twilight nodded.

"I can see that, but you obviously noticed at some point. Why didn't you ask me then?"

"Well, after ah sussed that the first few repeats weren't a string a' coincidences ah couldn't pluck up the courage to ask."

"Oh? Why not?"

"When y' see somepony turn into ah goddess firsthoof, it don't seem quite appropriate to bother them just cause you think stuff oughta be happenin' different."

Twilight paused. 'Alicorn Mode' was certainly intimidating for non-Awake mortal ponies, a new Looper would plausibly have the same reaction.

"I suppose that's reasonable. For the first couple of days, at least. But why didn't you come forward later that loop?"

"An' then y'all turned evil and yer dragon friend grew fifty stories high. Somethin' about Eternal Twilight?"

Twilight's ears fell. That loop. Now _that_ was bad luck… apparently she was too skilled an actor for her own good by now.

Macintosh continued.

"After thatn', ah was plum scared you'd do it again, so ah resolved to keep as far away from ya as possible. Weird stuff kept right on happenin', an from that point on ah just tried to help any way ah could. Ah kept mah family safe, no matter what. Sometimes, one or both of mah sisters'd act weird too, hangin' around you an' doin' strange stuff, so ah never explained to them either. They kept forgettin' stuff every time things reset anyway, so ah just kept quiet. Watchin'."

Twilight's eyes widened. She briefly wondered if there were any other Loopers in Macintosh's position, whether her crazy antics had driven any other ponies into hiding.

"Now, ah'm not normally th' kinda pony that needs change. Ah like a routine, an' for things to be reliable-like. Over time though, it got painful watchin' mah sisters, an' other ponies, gettin' hurt in stuff that ah could do somethin' about. Ma an' Pa may not be around, but they didn't raise me to be a stallion that'd stand by when he could help. On the other hoof, ah didn't want to be a snack for no dragon."

Macintosh sighed. Best to just get this out as quick as possible.

"So over time, ah saw how little things would change what happened. Ah got to learnin' the patterns, how ta change things without gettin' attention off th' scary purple unicorn. Ah guess this time ah finally did too much good."

Twilight could feel her emotions roiling. Shame at scaring Macintosh, a touch of anger that he'd been so vexing, and many others warred for dominance behind her eyes.

In the end, she stretched up and put a hoof on Macintosh's shoulder.

"Well Big Macintosh, I guess I owe you an explanation. You see, it all started with this tree called Yggdrasil..."

* * *

17.3 redux (Filraen)

* * *

Celestia ran, the sick taste of failure in her mouth.

Her student – her _beloved_ student – had fallen into corruption no less deep than Luna's own, of a thousand years past. And all five of her friends had fallen the same way.

She was being chased through her own castle by six twisted alicorns, who blew walls and columns aside to follow her.

Then there was a blur of motion.

"Haha! Have at thee!" a familiar voice said, accompanied by a musical series of twangs.

Celestia turned to find Discord – _Discord?_ – holding off dark-Applejack and dark-Fluttershy with a piano in one hand and a duck in the other.

"Celestia!" he said, shouting over his shoulder while making it rain tofu to slow the alicorns down. "Retreat! Get out of the castle, I'll join you outside!"

Thoroughly confused, Celestia looked for a good escape route. The windows caught her eye, but dark-Rainbow Dash shot past them as she made for the closest.

Another Discord ran past her in the other direction, wielding a swordfish and a scroll marked 'FiM script, S4E1'. "They're this way as well!"

Her head swivelled. Yes, the first Discord was still where she'd last seen him, and the second one wasn't something she'd imagined – he was dance-battling dark-Pinkie Pie.

Suddenly dark-Pinkie Pie left a howlish scream "NO!" and vanished, just to appear in front of Celestia, except as an earth pony completely untainted by the corruption.

"EVERYPONY STOP!"

"What's the matter, Pinkie? We were doing so well." Twilight Sparkle appeared alongside her, now back as unicorn. Soon Twilight's friends appeared alongside them.

"It's... HER!" The pink pony suddenly moved to where a white pegasus with a brown mane was apparently leading other ponies away.

"Ah!"

"Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie. Who are you?" Pinkie Pie asked with a big smile.

The surprise from the white pegasus faded back into a knowing smile as she looked to where Twilight was "You caught me. I'm Starlight Breaker."

"Starlight... Nanoha?!"

Starlight Breaker nodded. "Even stopping a prank for a visitor? I'm not sure if I'm honored or disappointed. How have you been?"

"…what?" Celestia said helplessly as their lively chat continued.

* * *

17.12 (Filraen) (31 minutes)

* * *

"Twilight, we are already on air!"

Fluttershy's voice brought Twilight Sparkle to her senses. One day wasn't nearly enough to get used to this loop. The world seemed nuclear-tech level but against all odds she hadn't seen any human or pony yet.

Then again, Twilight Sparkle knew this was going to be a weird loop wen she saw herself in the mirror after awakening and saw Smarty Pants looking back.

"Right," Twilight Sparkle, anchorpony plush, placed her woollen hooves over the desk she was and looked at the camera with her button eyes in front of her in a way so she could also see the screens by its side, on containing the live TV broadcasting and the other scrolling text. "Welcome back to 31 Minutes, the most important news bulletin on television.

"Mass protests have been happening in Puppetrolis in the last hours, and there it's our reporter Pinkie Pie to give us more information. Pinkie?"

The broadcasted image now showed Pinkie Pie, whose body was only a pink microphone with eyes, jumping up and down. "Oh, hi Twilight! You know there's a lot of people here in Puppetrolis getting together so I made a note about that's happening.

* * *

_"Hi everypony, this is Pinkie Pie's Pop Poll! Today's question is 'what do they call you?'"_ After a small introductory curtain the image showed Pinkie Pie asking different people the pop question. Answer ranges from 'no-face' from a beheaded doll, to 'Nim' from what appeared to be a black alicorn plushie, 'cool guy' from an ice cream and 'R2-D2' from a trash can from a park. What most confused Twilight was, except for the beheaded doll, everything could have eyes attached and if it had eyes it could talk even if it had no mouth. It didn't make any sense!

* * *

By the end of the note Twilight could swear Pinkie Pie was having a wide smile if she had a mouth, waiting for her feedback. Well, the note itself wasn't actually bad but... "Pinkie, what did it have with the mass protests in Puppetrolis?"

"Isn't it obvious, Twilight? Nopony has a good nickname, that must be why everypony is out here!"

"O...k..." Twilight said barely containing the urge to scream in frustration. "Thanks for the note, Pinkie."

"Bye Twilight!" And with that the direction cut transmission with Pinkie Pie.

Focusing herself to talking to her viewers again Twilight continued "And now the weather forecast report with our meteorologist-"

"ME! Nightmare Moon!" Nightmare Moon looked as menacing as a big black alicorn plushie toy could be. "Good evening, Twilight Sparkle."

The anchorpony was confused: she had met Princess Luna in the editorial meeting earlier today, what could have happened?

"Psst, Twilight," Fluttershy, in a plastic doll body, approached her from the opposite side of Nightmare Moon. Apparently Twilight was dumbstruck for too long. "Just go along for now, we are almost finished."

Fluttershy was right, the weather report was the last part of today's program and it was Princess Luna's section.

"Right," the anchorpony continued with false cheer. "Good evening, Nightmare Moon."

"Very good night for you too, Twilight Sparkle." Nightmare Moon answered emphasizing the word 'night'. "The next week on Puppetrolis will have clear skies all the time, giving a perfect opportunity to watch and enjoy the night sky.

"Temperatures will go on decline: for Tomorrow we expect zero degrees maximum and by the end of the week we'll have maximum around the one hundred negative degrees."

"How that can be?" Wronghooved, Twilight couldn't help but ask. "We are in the middle of summer, and not even in the coldest winter days we get under minus ten degrees!"

"But that's obvious Twilight Sparkle. Because the night will last... FOREVER! MUAHAHAHAHA!"

_"Twilight Sparkle."_ A voice could be heard loud and clear through all the studio.

"Director Celestia?" Hopefully she could help with this trouble.

_"I left something for you under the desk just in case something like that happened. Please free my sister from the blackness."_

Nightmare Moon's laugh stopped cold when she saw Twilight arming herself and Fluttershy with some sprayers. "No! Please! Anything but bleach!"

"Know what Nightmare Moon? I've quite frustrated since I awoke yesterday and now you've given me a great source of relief," Twilight said with a grin that matched Nightmare Moon's in her best days. "Let's go girls."

In the TV broadcasting screen Nightmare Moon's pursuit made the backdrop to the credits roll.

* * *

17.13 (Namar13766)

Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the looping Six exchanged surreptitious grins. For this loop, their plan for dealing with Nightmare Moon involved the introduction of pizza to Equestria, a spare Lance of Longinus from an Evangelion loop, and an operatically trained Spike, who possessed a singing voice that could cause a pair of panties to spontaneously combust.

_Wait for the mayor to finish, let the curtains pull back, see a black cloud, and watch it form...KING SOMBRA?!_

"Who are you? What have you done with Princess Celestia?"

The early-returned banished king merely smirked, sipped from a glass of water before speaking.

"**_GREETINGS! I'M KING SOMBRA! I HAVE WALKED PARTWAY FROM THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE TO CANTERLOT 3 TIMES! NOT TO ACTUALLY GO THERE, BUT TO GET A RUNNING START TO JUMP TO THE MOON! WHERE I WILL KNOCK OVER NIGHTMARE MOON AND CALL HER A MASSIVE POOF!_**"

The silence that followed dragged on uncomfortably, until it was broken by Lyra dryly commenting to Bon Bon, "Well, at least it can't get weirder."

"MUCKLE DAMRED CULT! 'AIR EH NAMBLIES BE KEEPIN' ME WEE MARES!?"

As one the looping six _twitched_, as the memories of a particularly crazy loop, one which even Pinkie had described as **_Batshit Insane_**, resurfaced.

Spike for his part, merely facepalmed. "Oh, no. How did Granny Smith become Old Mare Henderson **_again_**?!"

* * *

AN:

Few more obscure ones there...  
That Sombra is based off of BRIAN BLESSED, while "Old Man Henderson" is a Call of Cthulhu meme.


	18. Chapter 18

18.1

Twilight grinned. "Do you like it?"

Princess Celestia blinked in shock. "This is… I don't even know what this is."

"Oh, that's easy!" Twilight said. "I worked out exactly what you meant. I had to make some friends so that my plan for fighting back against Nightmare Moon would be safe!"

Celestia looked at the padlocked fridge. "So…?"

"So, this is my plan." Twilight opened the door a crack, and grabbed at something with her telekinesis before slamming the door and repadlocking it in a trice.

"Twilight… there is a Windigo on a leash in the room," Celestia observed, beyond shock into a kind of glassy coolness.

"Yep! That's my plan." Twilight held up the leash, easily corralling the thrashing monster with it. "It has double-code release authority – look, two leash handles!"

"So your plan to deal with Nightmare Moon is…"

"…to freeze her solid!" Twilight grinned earnestly. "It should be completely safe, my friends and I can do that whole friendship-blast thing from the Hearths Warming myth – we spent the whole afternoon practicing!"

"…right."

"I call him Polaris!" A pink pony skidded into the room. "Isn't he cute?"

"Pinkie," Twilight said with a groan. "Stop using puns that the Princess has no hope of possibly getting."

"But it's a good pun!" Pinkie protested. "It's totally high-brow satire! Look, he is a deterrent that would cause a winter and he's called Polaris! Oh, oh! And just in case he does somehow get off his leash and decides to be a meany meany pants, Twilight here got Applejack and Rainbow these neat toasting forks to poke him with! Fire beats Ice!"

"They're not toasting forks, Pinkie…" Twilight said wearily. "They're tridents."

"Hey," Pinkie looked upset. "Why do you get to make puns if I can't?"

"I don't know what you mean, Pinkie," Twilight said loftily.

* * *

"The Night Will Last Forever!"

"So, then…" Twilight said, raising a hoof. Her other foreleg was still under the table. "Would you say you're… angry at Princess Celestia?"

"What?" Nightmare Moon laughed. "Anger does not even begin to encapsulate it!"

"And you're full of rage, pain and hatred?"

"YES." The alicorn stamped her hoof. "Y.E.S. I am angry. I am pained. I wish to make Celestia suffer on her sun for as long as I suffered on my moon, and then a thousand years more for every insult!"

"Right." Twilight nodded. "Rarity?"

Rarity nodded.

Together, they said, "Sic 'em, boy!"

And then there was a kind of howling roar and snow everywhere.

When Nightmare Moon refocused, she was inside a comically large icecube and there was a thrashing monster being forced backwards by two tridents and a leash.

Pinkie beamed. "Looks like you need to… chill off."

"YYYEEEEAAAAHHHH!"

Everyone jumped. "What was that?" several voices asked.

* * *

Twilight blinked. "…huh."

Discord petted the Windigo. "Oo's a good boy? You are! You're such an entropic little cutie, aren't you?"

The monster rolled over onto its back, tongue lolling out.

"Can I keep him?" Discord pleaded. "I will hug him and call him Polaris and-"

"Wait, why Polaris?" Dash asked.

"That's his name, duh." Discord indicated the tag.

"Huh. Was that Pinkie's doing?"

"Probably…" Twilight said. "Alright, if you're good. But we might need him on occasion."

* * *

"You eat emotions?" Twilight said. "Interesting."

"Why?" Chrysalis asked.

"Well, Discord's pet invited friends over." Twilight dove for cover.

"What?" Chrysalis looked dumbfounded. Then there was a chill wind, as a thousand ghostly shapes came over the walls.

"So, what happens next?" Pinkie asked over the howling and buzzing. "One side feeds on love, the other side feeds on hate… who wins?"

"Us," Twilight said with a certain smug air.

* * *

"…yeah, this feels unfair."

The Crystal Empire promptly turned to ice.

"Right," Twilight nodded. "Let's go remove the Sombricicle and get them thawed out again."

* * *

18.2

Spike grinned. "Don't worry, it's safe. They have pegasi paralleling the jump, and they catch us if we're too close for a safe open."

"So you said," Rarity admitted, looking out the open bay door of _Jack of all Trades_. The airship's engines were humming gently as they countered the wind, but otherwise holding them stationary over a plain south of Trottingham.

"It's the main reason you managed to talk me into this…"

"Well," Spike adjusted his parachute unnecessarily. "I do love this kind of thing, and you _did_ say you wanted to see what I enjoyed. Just one jump, okay?"

"I should hope so!" Rarity looked uncertain, then her resolve firmed. "Alright, I'm ready."

"Good." Spike glanced over at the others – unicorns, earth ponies, even the odd pegasus with wings strapped or with wing injuries. Fellow thrill-seekers.

Oh, he'd flown before – even if his ponderous flight as an adult dragon couldn't compare to that one loop as a quicksilver pegasus – but somehow falling out of the sky was… more.

At least he got a _lot_ of fall time. They were high enough it would take something like two and a half minutes total to reach parachute-open time.

"O-kay," the jump master said. "On my count. Three. Two. One. Go!"

* * *

Spike grinned, feeling the air rushing over his scales. Now _this_ was what he called fun!

There was a faint itch where his wings would be growing shortly… probably the instinctual reaction to being in the air. It was part of why he did this, really, the ability to get close to his species in a whole new way.

Then he glanced over at Rarity, and saw something that worried him. Her eyes were closed, and she was breathing fast.

It was a moment's half-formed thought for him to steer over to her and grab on. "Rarity! Are you alright?"

"No," Rarity said, her voice catching. "I… sorry, Spike, but… I…"

"Don't worry. You're safe," Spike reassured her. "You're wearing a parachute. It's at least another minute until we need to open them. This isn't the Young Fliers' competition."

He kept talking, pitching his voice low, talking without really caring what he was saying so long as it was reassuring. Rarity started sobbing, clinging to him as if to reassure herself that he was there.

"Ten seconds," one of the pegasi said, as she began to quieten down. "Are you two alright?"

Spike nodded back, and pulled his cord. His extra-sized parachute bloomed overhead, jerking them both back "up" – really a simple slowdown – but they were still moving quite fast.

He adjusted his grip on the white unicorn as the grassy field below rushed up, and bore the brunt of the ground impact with a suppressed shout of pain.

* * *

"I'm so sorry." Rarity shook her head. "I didn't think I'd go to pieces like that."

"No problem," Spike assured her, scratching a spot on his back. Dragon scales were tough – he'd only bruised. "Wasn't your fault."

"But I feel like it _is_. That's a weakness, and…" Rarity trailed off, blinking furiously. "I… _deplore_ feeling weak."

Spike spread his arms. After a moment, Rarity shook her head. "No thank you, Spike. Later, I think… maybe yes. But… not now."

"Alright." The dragon nodded. "Kinda makes sense, anyway. Cadence told me once that you often second-guess actions you take when you're stressed… especially things to do with, er… relationships."

They sat there for a bit.

"Tell you what," he said, suddenly. "I'll ask Twilight if we can have the Gala tickets next time. Have it to ourselves."

"Isn't that terribly selfish?" Rarity asked.

"Nah." Spike shrugged. "Well, maybe a bit. But I _am_ a dragon."

Rarity giggled.

"The great dragon Spykoranuvellitar, no less!" Spike puffed out his chest, knowing full well that he looked absurd. "Who could begrudge two tickets for his hoard, especially since at the moment it consists of two autographed books, a piece of cheese, and a wind-up toaster?"

"…pardon?"

"Yeah," Spike looked shifty. "If you're a dragon, midnight snacking is kind of expensive."

This time Rarity's giggles lasted longer, and she was smiling at the end of them. "Thank you, Spike. I feel better now."

"No problem." Spike paused, wondering if he should risk bringing the matter up again. "Er… have you considered asking Princess Luna to help with that fear of yours?"

"No, actually." Rarity frowned. "That might be a good idea. Thank you for suggesting it, Spike."

"No problem," he repeated.

* * *

18.3

"Girls?" Twilight said, and the five other Elements turned to her. "There's somepony I'd like you to meet."

"Who is it?" Pinkie asked. "I like meeting new ponies!" She looked a bit dour for a second. "Especially since it's been getting kinda rare…"

By answer, Twilight stepped back from the door.

"…hello," Trixie said. "Tr- _I_ understand that you are the Looping versions, then?"

"Yep," Applejack replied simply.

"Then it is nice to meet you." Trixie sketched a bow. "I understand that my… well, my _normal_ self has acquitted herself less than well on a few occasions with you."

"Pretty much." Dash nodded. "Does this mean you're Looping too?"

Trixie nodded, looking nervous. But she swallowed hard, and stood tall.

Suddenly Applejack stepped forwards and took her hoof. "Then it's nice to meet y'all. How long you been Loopin'?"

"Oh. Er… only four so far." Trixie waved a hoof. "I'm still rather new to all this."

"Full barrage, party close, immediate effect!" Pinkie said into a radio, and dove for cover.

Trixie blinked. "What-"

SPLUT.

* * *

"Trixie does not even particularly like lime," the unicorn said, treading icing. "What just happened?"

"Oh, right." Twilight shrugged. "I think Pinkie set up an autoloading party howitzer with voice activation earlier today. I don't know why."

"Can you please teach Trixie two things?" At Twilight's nod, Trixie continued. "First, that icing-walking spell you are using. It would be most useful."

"Sure." Twilight nodded, hoisting the magician out of the impromptu torte. "And the second thing?"

"How to subscribe to that party pony's news letter." Trixie's eyes shone suddenly. "She thinks in a way that I find _very_ interesting."

"…what have I done?" Twilight asked rhetorically.

* * *

18.4

"So, let me get this straight," Spike said carefully. "I'm a pathetic excuse for a dragon because I was raised by ponies. Specifically, by a 'namby pamby pony princess'."

Garble and his two bookends nodded.

"Right. And you don't know what kind of dragon I am?"

"Like it matters!" the one on the left said. (Spike still couldn't really tell them apart.)

"Okay." Spike nodded. "Got it. So, what's your special power?"

"Huh?" Garble said. "Why would we need _special_ powers? We're already, you know, _dragons_. Is this some pony thing?"

"Oh." Spike shrugged. "'cause one of the namby pamby pony princesses I know kinda helped to raise me. And she taught me three main things. Number one: how to read."

The teens looked singularly unimpressed.

"Number two, how to make friends."

If anything, they got more apathetic.

"And number three: How to do this."

Spike stretched, and went on stretching. There was a brief period of morphic confusion, and then he tapped a claw on the ground.

_Boom. Boom. Boom._

"Kinda cool, huh?" he rumbled, now at least Wyrm in size.

* * *

Luna opened her door. "Whom is knocking at this late hour?"

Three dragons prostrated themselves on the floor in front of her door. "Teach us awesome stuff, pony princess!"

She blinked. "…very well, then. You shall be inducted into my Night Guards, and thence be taught the ancient power of balefire. The flame that burns cold."

Meadowlark grinned beneath his wing. He'd just been thinking the Night Guard needed a bit more… oomph.

* * *

18.5

"…I can't run this!" Diamond Tiara shouted. "It's inconceivable! Incomprehensible!"

"Why not?" Scootaloo asked. "It's what happened."

"That's as may be…" Diamond said, sighing. "But it would destroy the credibility of the paper if we printed it without evidence."

"We have credibility?" Sweetie asked.

"Sssh," Applebloom admonished her.

"Ah well. I suppose we have a civic duty." Diamond slid the copy over to the typesetter.

"…pardon?" that colt asked, looking at the paper. "Princess Luna is the one ambushing ponies with tennis balls?"

"Yeah," Scootaloo said, shrugging. "I didn't have time to take a photo before she saw me, though."

* * *

Princess Luna grinned as she read the headline.

_Luna-tic Princess?_

"Ah, I do so enjoy creating bizarre headlines… let's see, what next?"

* * *

Celestia spat her tea out.

_Moon used for advertisement! Is the Princess of the Night hard up for cash?_

She ran to the window and looked out. The slowly sinking satellite had the words _Eat at Joe's!_ written across it.

"…hm. Well, not my problem." Celestia firmly put a lid on the issue, and decided to leave things to Luna.

* * *

_Local pony breaks sound barrier!_

"That's not a headline…" Twilight muttered. Then she read further.

_No, seriously, we mean she broke it. As in, nothing has gone supersonic since._

"But…" the anchor blinked. "How? She's not even Looping!"

* * *

_Pinkie Pie declares independence, establishes republic of Sugaria_

_Guard captain caught with Celestia's niece!_

_Luna rules, Celestia drools!_

* * *

"Explain," Twilight said flatly.

"Alright…" Luna blushed. "I may have started bribing them."

* * *

18.6 (The Bill, perhaps?)

"…I don't believe that scum like you could possibly exist! To betray your people, your family… you make me sick, and if I was the one in charge of sentencing you I'd have you in a hole so deep you'd have to tunnel _up_ to Tartarus!"

Someone knocked on the door.

Inspector Dash stopped shouting, and moved away from the relieved criminal. "Ah, my shift's up. I'll get my partner to chat to you." The door opened, and Dash slipped out.

Inspector Gilda came in. "Yeah, Dash can be like that."

"Oh, I see!" The unicorn grinned. "This is good cop, bad cop! Well, it ain't going to work!"

Gilda grinned. "Yeah, you got it right. Except for one thing… Dash always was a softy."

The unicorn paled.

"Yep. She was the good cop."

* * *

"Now that's professional," Twilight said critically. "No marks – not even real injuries – just a shave. And he did need one."

"Yep," Dash replied, sitting down in the interrogation room. "Gils is _good_ with those claws. Hell, I've seen her cut a feather in half – while it was falling."

"Oh," Twilight held up a hoof. "…aaand he's confessing. How long was that?"

"Four minutes, seven seconds."

"Hmmm…" Chief Twilight Sparkle wrote it down. "Unusually resilient one, that one…"

* * *

18.7

"Hey, this is cool!" the alliteratively named Princess Pinkie Pie said, gazing around. "Discord's in charge, right?"

"Right now, yes." Twilight nodded. "This is the Discordian era. I'm surprised your one of these got deferred by one loop, actually – probably it was because of that nice colt who Fluttershy helped. You know, the guy from Fenris."

"Yeah!" Pinkie nodded back. "Lemon Rush was so nice – well, except when someone threatened Fluttershy, anyway. So what happens now?"

"Basically, we seal Discord and run Equestria." Twilight frowned. "Which Elements do you want?"

* * *

"This is the best job _ever!_" Pinkie said, beaming. "Where'd you get the idea of a Quaestor, anyway?" The brightly coloured robes shifted a little.

"Rome," Twilight replied. "I knew you'd enjoy that kind of thing, so I made it so there's no weekends. Just about a hundred and eighty celebration days a year."

"All individually themed?" Pinkie's eyes shone.

"I certainly tried." Twilight smiled, enjoying Pinkie's obvious enjoyment of her new position. It had been tricky to work out how to divide their responsibilities, but this seemed to be working out fine.

* * *

"Okay, Pinkie…" Twilight rubbed her temples. "What have we learned?"

"Uhhh… oh! Mortals can't cope with a blood sugar level in excess of eighty percent!" Pinkie said brightly.

"…Okay, what things, plural, have we learned?"

Pinkie frowned. "Don't try to summon a daemonette outside the forty-kay loop, cuz it doesn't work and I don't run them any more. Don't invite crocodiles to parties, at least not adult ones. And don't bake a special caramel cake shaped like floor and then startle the dragon ambassador with a bursting-paper-bag gag, cuz if he breaths fire then the whole thing explodes."

"Right," Twilight nodded. "That's better. Now, I have to say, this _is_ a new one on me for these Loops."

Both of them turned to look at Equestria below.

"How long until the Elements let us go back down?" Pinkie asked.

"Not sure." Twilight shrugged. "I hope they can handle themselves down there."

She had to wonder why she'd been included in the lock out. Possibly it was because of the botched and overpowered daemonette summoning, which had instead finally produced a very confused Changeling in the instant before the explosion.

* * *

"…okay, then." Chrysalis looked around the smouldering crater. "Hmm… I wonder how much gratitude ponies would have for a nation of changelings that helped them rebuild their capital city?"

* * *

"We're back!" Pinkie shouted. "Now, who wants some chocolate?"

"Me, please." A Changeling hovered over and took one. "Very nice. Thank you."

Twilight blinked, watching the insectoid critter buzz off and go into a furniture shop. "What happened while we were gone?"

"I dunno, but I like it!" Pinkie bounced into the air and stayed there, beating her wings. "Hey, look, free daily concerts!"

"Oh, those must be so that Changelings can get their fill of love," Twilight realized. "Well, we seem kind of superfluous. Shall we just go to the concert?"

"Yay!"

* * *

"Should have known," Twilight muttered to herself.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash worked their bass and guitar respectively on stage. Applejack drummed away in the background, Rarity was doing rather well on piano, and as for the singers…

"_I'll give you all I've got to give _

_If you say you love me too _

_I may not have a lot to give _

_But what I've got I'll give to you _

_I don't care too much for money _

_For money can't buy me love _

_Can't buy me love _

_Everybody tells me so _

_Can't buy me love _

_No, no, no, no!"_

Celestia and Luna sang together, trading off on alternate lines with the ease of long practice and longer association.

"They're really good!" Pinkie enthused.

"Yeah," Twilight said, nodding along. "Wonder if they're going to even need the Elements…"

* * *

18.8

Hiccup looked around. "Toothless? Where did you go?" _Seriously,_ he added over their telepathic link – courtesy of a Pern loop so long ago it felt like they'd never lacked that closer-than-brothers relationship, _what happened to you?_

A purr came over the link, and a side-bleed of the dragon's emotions. They were so strong – and so sleepy – that Hiccup nearly tripped.

_Hey, Hiccup,_ Toothless eventually said, in the telepathic equivalent of a lazy drawl, _I defect. I'm working for this girl now._

Hiccup finally reached the clearing he'd originally met Toothless in – all those loops ago. However, there was a girl there already with flowers in her hair… and a rather grumpy looking bunny on her shoulder. And she was scratching Toothless under his chin.

"You're a nice one, aren't you? So this is your home loop?"

Toothless nodded happily, begging for more scratches.

* * *

"You must be Fluttershy, then?" Hiccup confirmed. "It's been… whoo, a _long_ time since I last met you guys. Bit more experience with the multiverse since?"

"Yes, thanks." Fluttershy Hofferson stroked Angel Bunny, who waved a carrot warningly at Toothless when he tried to sidle closer. "Twilight told us she met you a few times."

"Yeah…" Hiccup shrugged. "Strange thing, she tends to be my sister. Anyway, you seem to have subverted my dragon."

_I'm not yours!_ Toothless replied huffily. _We have a contractual relationship, remember. And there's nothing in there precluding additional riders._

"Yeah, yeah…" Hiccup said, stretching. "Man, I'll miss Astrid, though. She's a good girlfriend… if scary."

Fluttershy giggled. "All right. This is your home loop, so how does it work?"

"Basically, we have to teach the village how to become dragon riders. Step one: catch your dragon." Hiccup nodded towards Toothless. "As I'm sure you've noticed, they're suckers for fish, catnip, scritches or just generally anything that works on a cat. Or a dog."

_I prefer to think of it as cats liking what Night Furies do._ Toothless rolled over on his back. _Speaking of which…_

Hiccup got up and gave his friend a rub. "They _are_ kinda high maintenance at times, but if you get a dragon as a friend they'll last you as long as you deserve. Longer, even."

"Okay…" Fluttershy got a speculative look in her eye. "I'll see if I can find a dragon to befriend for myself."

* * *

"Should have guessed…" Hiccup shook his head, as the humanized pegasus gave a chin scratch to the latest in a relay of over four hundred dragons.

One of the nadders tried to jump the queue, and an expertly aimed carrot from Angel sent him sprawling backwards to meekly retake his place.

"This is going to look bad at the exam…"

* * *

"Hi, I'm Astrid. The name means beautiful, which I am, and these are my animal friends." The pegasus gave a sweet smile. "They like me."

Stormfly nodded enthusiastically. The manticore, hydra, cockatrice and ursa major exchanged glances, felt their bruises and decided to play along.

"…well, that suggests a way of dealing with Nightmare Moon," Twilight said. "Er… what's with the axe?"

"It helps me be friendly," Astrid said.

* * *

18.9

"Twilight."

Twilight stepped into the audience chamber, half her mind on what she planned to do to handle Sombra this time around. The idea of getting him into an eating contest with Spike seemed to be a fun one…

Celestia looked her in the eye. "Twilight Sparkle. You are to take your friends, the Elements, your brother, his wife, my sister, half the army, as many large monsters as you can obtain, and Trixie Lulamoon, and beat self-styled King Sombra like a test your strength machine."

The anchor's thoughts swerved wildly, as Celestia went off-script. "Er… pardon?"

"Did I stutter?" Celestia frowned. "No, you're right. Also take the Wonderbolts, a regiment of expeditionary forces from the Griffins, every dragon we have treaties with and, if necessary or desired, an asteroid strike."

"…wait, are you Looping?" Twilight asked.

Celestia looked grave for a moment. Then sniggered. After a game attempt to recover her composure, she finally burst out laughing. "Got you!"

Twilight shook her head, a grin stealing over it. "You did that."

* * *

18.10 (C.S.) (by Zulaq)

* * *

It was another regular base loop for Twilight, and she was playing it as the first time, because she had a new plan in mind for dealing with Discord. She had just finished finding the information on Nightmare Moon's imminent return and sending her letter to Celestia.

5…4…3…2…1…

Spike burped up a scroll.

Twilight listened with only half an ear as Spike started reading, "My dearest, most faithful student Twilight, please come to my chambers immediately." Spike dropped the letter with a gasp, "Wow, she must be really concerned about this Mare in the Moon thing. Don't you think Twilight?"

Twilight didn't respond, as she thought about what the summons meant. If Celestia was awake then she'd have to change some of her plans, but then again, loops with just her and the princess could be fun. Turning to Spike, she spoke, "Don't worry, Spike. I'm sure the princess is just wants to confirm my findings. I'll go see her right away."

* * *

"Wait," Twilight asked incredulously, "you're telling me somepony's stolen the Moon!?"

Celestia definitely wasn't awake, but Twilight had no clue what was going on. Maybe Luna was awake, and was messing with her sister again?

"Yes," Celestia stated gravely, "Two hours ago, I noticed was no longer under my power. I attempted to ascertain its status, and my spells say it's not where it should be. The only clue that came up was this." She lifted green metal curved band, with seven spikes jutting out of it.

Curious, Twilight used her magic to bring the object to her for a closer examination. "It appears to be a tiara. Albeit, a rather uncomfortable one," she mused, "It's made of copper, the green is just oxidation. This definitely reminds me of something. But what?" She thought for a moment, before her eyes widened in realization, "It's a miniature of the crown on top of the Statue of Leighberty in Manehatten!"

Celestia looks relived for a moment, before donning a resolute face. "Twilight, I want you to go to Manehatten and investigate the Statue of Leighberty. Hopefully, you'll be able to find some more clues there."

"Wait a minute," Twilight protested, "Shouldn't the guards handle this, maybe the police? Or even you, I mean whoever did this was strong enough to steal the moon!"

"I'm afraid that won't work," Celestia sighed, "I cannot inform anypony else. If the people were to learn that the moon is missing, panic might ensue. I cannot go myself, because I'd attract far too much attention, and arranging royal visits is an extremely involved process that we just don't have the time for." She sighed again, "Fortunately, even though it's not the longest day of the year yet, days are still far longer than normal this time of year, so it'll be most of the day before I have to raise the moon. I might be able to buy some more time, pretend I'm keeping the sun up a bit longer than normal due to some unusual solar activity I want to observe, or some such, but I have to be here in Canterlot to do it."

"I guess I understand," Twilight replied, "But how am I going to get to Manehatten in time?"

"I'm going to teleport you there directly," Celestia stated, with her horn beginning to glow, "So good luck, Twilight Sparkle!"

In a flash of light, Twilight disappeared.

* * *

Twilight Sparkle appeared in a burst of light and shook her head. That was _not_ a normal teleport, she thought to herself. It felt almost as if moving through a tunnel, which had screens on it showing various scenes from around Equestria, instead of the instantaneous transportation she was used to.

But Twilight had no time to contemplate the strange teleport, as the scene before her stunned her. She was standing at the base of the Statue of Leighberty, and far above her, she can see twelve grey and red pegasi securing ropes to the crown atop the statue's head. Quick to act, Twilight teleported herself to the statue's head herself.

Thankfully, teleporting under her own power seemed normal, and Twilight arrived only to find an even stranger scene than she thought. The twelve pegasi were still fliting about, attaching ropes, but there were also five other ponies on the roof. Four were grey and red unicorns, using magic to cut the metal of the tiara away from the rest of the statue using magic. But the fifth was the strangest, a mare wearing a huge red fedora, a long yellow scarf and a red greatcoat, which covered almost all of her body aside from her head and long black mane. Twilight wasn't certain what type of pony she was, given her clothes covered up the areas where wings or a horn might be.

The strangely dressed mare was the first to notice Twilight's presence. She turned to face Twilight, and smiled. "So the Princess figured out my clue did she?" she spoke, with a faint smile on her face, "But then again, it was such a simple clue. And who does she send as her emissary?" She examined Twilight with a simple, dismissive, glance. "Obviously nopony of import."

"Hey," Twilight protested, feeling odd that she'd been so causally dismissed, "I'll have you know that I'm Celestia's personal student! And I was the one who figured out your clue." Twilight reigned herself in a bit, it wouldn't do to get worked up on a mission like this. "Who are you? And why did you steal the Moon?"

"Oh," the mare questioned in an amused manner, "we might have a little detective here, asking so many questions. I'm sorry I won't answer your questions yet, but you're not quite the detective I want. So what do you say that you return to Celestia, and I continue my little plan."

"I'm not going anywhere! You're going to stop this, and return the Moon, right now! Or else!"

"Or else what my dear?" the mare questioned, "You're still a child compared to me."

"Or this!" with that, Twilight shot a beam of stunning magic from her horn, but the strange mare merely sidestepped it.

"Oh, so you do have some spark," the mare chuckled to herself, "But I don't have the time to spend playing games with you. After all, I do believe I'm done here." As she spoke, a loud metallic groaning sound erupted from the statue, as the unicorns finished detaching the tiara and the pegasai began lifting it into the air.

The unknown mare lifted her right forehoof, and Twilight could just see some sort of advanced bracer just under the edge of her coat. The mare pointed her hoof at the flying tiara, and a grappling hook shot out of the bracer and began pulling her up into the air. She twisted about to speak to Twilight once more, "We shall see if you are a good enough detective to challenge me, Twilight Sparkle. So I give you this clue; apples to apples, I think I'll just take a chip off of the old block."

Twilight was stupefied by the scene before her. There was no way that a dozen pegasai could lift something as heavy as the tiara, but they were not only lifting it, they were flying at a decent pace, and only getting faster as she watched. She watched as the group of criminal ponies disappeared into the distance, and all she did was shake her head.

Twilight knew that there were literally dozens of things she could have done to change the situation, but the sheer audacity (and implausibility) of the crime being committed had her off balance. Even now, she could probably magic up some solution, but instead, Twilight broke out into a grin. This just might be an _interesting_ loop.

* * *

18.11 (elmagnifico)

* * *

Big Macintosh sighed.

It was the day of the Apple Family Reunion. The one where he'd first seen Twilight Sparkle. All around him, he could see the other Apples doing reunion things, at this stage mostly standing around and sipping cider saved for the occasion. From over by the buffet table, the Element of Honesty took a moment from helping Granny Smith with the salad to give him a look.

"Y' okay Mac? Ye've done nuthin' but mope since breakfast."

Macintosh paused. This was the other mare, the one that was sometimes there instead of the Applejack he had watched grow countless times before. She hadn't said as much, but the signs were there. She carried herself differently. Subtle motions. She'd sometimes flex her shoulders like he'd seen pegasi do. Her stepping was more careful, calculated. After years and years being around his sister, it had put him on edge. Acting and lying were different things, and she was better at the former than the latter, but an astute observer could pick it out if they tried.

After so much time, small things were bound to change. He supposed somepony looking at him might see similar differences between his Looping self and his counterpart. On the other hoof, he'd spent most of his Loops hiding from one pony or another, which might have masked the tells. He wasn't sure. All he knew for sure was that it was his effects, how he'd changed the ponies around him, rather than anything he'd been directly observed doing, that had finally tipped Her off.

Of course, now he knew that Twilight Sparkle was just the victim of boredom and a mischievous demeanour, not an evil dusk-bringing eldritch abomination. He didn't really approve of the pranks. One had nearly given that loop's version of Granny Smith a heart attack when she'd noticed. Even if she still would have been there next time the world reset, she was still his grandmother. Watching her die would still have hurt. It would have hurt his sisters too.

He sighed again. He didn't want to keep this secret any longer.

"Ah've got somethin' to tell ya."

* * *

The barn, cleared to accommodate the festivities in case of rain, had proved the perfect place to explain things.

"So ye've been loopin' for a while now, but Twilight only noticed when ya changed enough stuff?"

It had been so easy this time. Instead of cutting him off at the first mention of time travel, like Applejack had in loops past, she'd listened. Right up until he'd mentioned she had been there for some of those loops.

"Eeyup."

She seemed angry now. Ranting full blast.

"An' ya didn't tell her about the loops 'cuz she turned into Eternal Twilight right in fronta ya?"

It felt good, in a strange way. Calling him out on stuff he'd been hiding was something his sister did.

"Eeyup."

She looked him in the eyes.

"And ya kept me in th' dark, not trustin' yer own kin ta have yer best interests at heart?"

He shook his head.

"Ah told ya a few times, in some of th' early loops. Y' either didn't believe me, or ya wanted to go ta Twilight immediate like. Ah managed to convince ya that was a bad idea. Didn't feel lahk it were safe after thatn'."

The green orbs staring into his narrowed.

"You know that's different. That weren't the loopin' me."

"See, that's the thing." Mac groped for words. "Y'all aren't the sister ah know. Ya got her body, ya got her voice, ya got her eyes. But y' ain't the same pony."

A stomp of anger. Frustration. So very like Applejack.

"That didn't stop me from bein' yer sister before! What about when ah went off to Manehatten, ah wasn't the same pony when ah came back!"

"Y' didn't start hangin' out with Eternal Twilight an' turnin' into no goddess after y' went off to Manehatten! Fer all ah knew, y' were some time warpin' changeling in league with th' eldritch abomination!" Mac realized his voice was riding, and tried to calm down a little.

"Twilight's no abomination!"

"AH KNOW THAT NOW!"

Silence fell.

It was broken by the receding clatter of tiny hooves outside the barn door.

Instinctively, his eyes shifted to the red barrier. Applebloom. Ah, Fewmets.

"Ah, horseapples."

The whisper was quiet, and likely meant for no ears aside from hers. His eyes widened.

When he looked back at his sister, she was scowling at him. She spoke, barely louder than her swear.

"How many?"

He tilted his head. How many what?

"How many loops did y'all lie to me?"

Recognition dawned at his eyes, but he kept his reply quiet.

"Four."

She paused for a second before continuing.

"We ain't done mister. Ah got a shindig to run, an' you've got duties to attend, but after that, we're settlin' this."

She trotted out to find Applebloom, leaving Macintosh alone in the barn. He sighed, before quirking the corners of his mouth just a little. It would be hard, but he would try his hardest to fix things. After a minute or so, he followed his sister.

It would be a good reunion.

* * *

18.12 (Stainless Steel Fox)

* * *

"I know who you are. You're the Mare in the Moon – Nightmare Moon!"Twilight exclaimed, focussing most of her attention on quietly completing a dimensional ward spell to cover the entire area around the town hall.

The wicked mare of darkness (TM) gloated. "Well well well, somepony who remembers me. Then you also know why I'm here."

Twilight put on a bored expression and spooled a hoof. "Yeah, I know eternal night, never see the sun again, yadayadayada. I still think it's one of the most moronic villainous plots ever."

"How dare you mock me!" Nightmare Moon crackled with lightning, and her aura flared. "I have all the powers of the night!"

"And I have a Jim." Twilight returned.

"No amount of physical exercise will save you!"

"Not gym. Jim. JIM!" the last was called out in a loud voice.

A big grey hand came smashing through the wall behind Nightmare Moon and grabbed her. "Pretty Pony Princess!"

"Arrrghh! You have a cave troll?" NMM squirmed in the grip of the massive grey slab of humanoid, who was hugging her and saying how he would cuddle her and call her George.

"I promised him a pretty pony princess of his very own. Good luck escaping, cave trolls are highly resistant to magic."

"Urh! Little foal, I can simply..." Her aura flared and nothing happened.

"Oh, so _that's_ where I put that area ward against dimensional travel. Kinda knocks over your ability to teleport or turn ethereal. Ooops!" Twilight smirked.

* * *

18.13

"Lady Rarity, bearer of the Element of Generosity, of Ponyville! Mister Spykoranuvellitar, of Canterlot."

A few heads turned as the dragon and the unicorn entered Canterlot Castle's largest dance hall, but most of the guests were otherwise occupied. The Gala was _the_ premier social event… though that also made it where everyone checked their current score in the great game of status. And a fair fraction of the nobility of Equestria were engrossed in trying to calculate the current leaderboard.

"_Of_ Ponyville?" Rarity asked in an artfully concealed whisper, her lips barely moving. "And I wasn't aware I was a _lady._"

"Well, normally you're not." Spike's whisper had a little less skill behind it, but ponies would have a lot less opportunity to learn to lip-read dragons anyway. "I asked Celestia about it, and she agreed to grant that title to element bearers as a minor mark of respect. And the 'of' is just where you live, when you have a title like that. For me it's where I was born." He looked around the room. "My, all the notables are here."

"How cunning of you," Rarity said, then broke off their conversation. "Oh, Rich! Fancy seeing you here!"

"Rarity." Filthy Rich bowed gently, his eyes flicking to Spike. "And Spykoran as well. You're certainly dressed for it."

Rarity made an elegant gesture in token of disagreement – which neither pony took seriously; it was just part of the way one did things. "One tries."

Spike let his own gaze wander to Rarity's dress. They'd spent three days working together on it and on his tuxedo, and both were filigreed with gemstones ordered by refractive index. Light that struck them curved and came out somewhere else, splintered into a rainbow of colours, and the gems were so fine they looked like mere glitter unless seen closely.

But to him, the real reason Rarity looked good wasn't the dress. She made it look good, and not the other way around.

"So, tell me," Rich asked, addressing the dragon directly, "what _is_ it like living with the highest-scoring graduate of Celestia's academy in history?"

Spike smiled slightly. "Well, she does her own taxes…" Rich quirked his mouth, and Spike went on. "She's… brilliant, is the only word that applies. I'm probably something of a biased source, but I really don't think the Element of Magic could have a better bearer."

"And, of course," Rarity added, "you do help her out when she forgets to eat."

Spike raised a hand. "A touch, I do confess. Well, cooking is something I don't mind doing – I even think I may have some skill at it, though being a dragon I can't simply tell that from how my own creations taste."

Rich nodded understandingly. "What about…"

* * *

The two of them spent about an hour doing a turn around the hall, engaging in dozens of short, varied conversations on a wide variety of topics. Their Looping experience served them well, letting either or both of them at least have a reference and a comment or two about nigh on any subject.

Particularly interesting was when Princess Celestia managed to get a few minutes away from the receiving line and speak to them. Her knowing expression told Spike that she had at least some intimation of how close they were, but she confined herself to small talk… and one embarrassing story about the time when Equestria's court including a dragon was still a cause of terror for ill-informed petitioners, leading to five ponies hiding behind a pillar from a two-year-old Spike with an ice cream.

Ultimately, the music began. With no Pinkie Pie, the orchestra were able to perform a more normal set, and the first piece was a moderately paced quadrille.

* * *

"Don't look now," Spike said quietly on their second dance (a slow waltz), "but I think that Blueblood's been glaring at us for the past five minutes."

They slowly changed places, Rarity following the traditional dance and Spike moving in a variant that they'd worked out some time ago to compensate for his different body shape.

"Yes, I see what you mean," Rarity replied. "Goodness, but I feel rather better than I should about him being jealous of you."

"You think that's what it is?"

"For my sins," Rarity gave a tiny grin, "I happen to know him rather well. I do feel some sympathy for the prince… after all, he's grown up under rather a lot of pressure… but, then, other royals had the same situations and they handled it much better. But yes, that rather appears as though he's jealous."

"With good reason," Spike replied, executing a complicated step which had been designed with a low centre of gravity in mind. He managed it without stumbling, but it was a near thing. "I feel like I've got the best dance partner on the floor."

"You flatterer." Rarity fluttered her eyelashes, eyes laughing. "I – oh!"

The waltz had come to an end, and without missing a beat Octavia and her quartet changed into a fast arabesque.

Spike and Rarity exchanged glances, grinned, and threw themselves into the physically demanding dance.

* * *

Dragon and unicorn only came off the dance floor three times that night.

The first time was when Rarity laughingly asked for a break, and the two of them headed over to the buffet for some food and – especially – water. Octavia was outdoing herself tonight, which meant lots of physically demanding dances, and they needed it.

The second time, Spike disappeared backstage for a few minutes, and came out again onto the orchestral dais itself. Sitting at a piano, he proceeded to rattle off the hardest pieces Twilight had been able to find him – starting with a Bach piano concerto, following that up with the Hammerklavier, and finishing with something simply called "Study in A flat major after op.25" which was essentially written for four hands.

Though that earned him a round of applause, he waved it off and vanished backstage again to change from waistcoat and tails back to his tuxedo.

While he was gone, though, Rarity found herself approached by Blueblood.

"Might I beg the honour of the next dance, my lady?" he asked, and Rarity had to admire his skill. If she hadn't had several dozen loops' worth of disastrous Gala attempts of one sort or another to remember, she'd have thought this was her dreams coming true.

"My apologies, your highness," she replied, affecting a slight air of distraction, "but I have already promised mister Spykoran the next dance."

"It rather seems as though you have promised him all the dances," Blueblood muttered. "Though he is, it would appear, a lucky fellow – all our local mares are rather disquieted by your presence." A dazzling smile. "They're not used to competition, especially not competition with such grace."

"I would hardly describe myself as _competition_," she began, and he interrupted her.

"Nor would I, my lady… because that implies that they are within shouting distance of you."

"I really must get on." Rarity turned half-away from him, looking to see if Spike had already come back in, and then saw a look of pure venom flash across Blueblood's face before his training reasserted itself.

She gave him a sardonic look which told him that she'd seen his momentary loss of composure. "Ah, dear Spykoran must have returned. Thank you for letting me know."

As Rarity trotted briskly over to the dance floor once more, she fancied – deep in her core – that she could hear the sound of grinding teeth.

* * *

"Spike," Rarity asked, halfway through the latest in a litany of dances so long she'd begun to lose track, "do you remember that letter you sent me, before our dinner at Blue Cordon's restaurant?"

"Er…" the dragon frowned. "The one last loop, about getting hold of lightsaber-quality crystals?"

"No," she shook her head. "The first one. That very first letter you sent me after we turned up in a Loop together."

Spike nodded. "Yes, I do."

"Well, by my count we have had approximately a hundred and eleven years to think about the subject," she continued, still placing her hooves with faultless care. "And I would like to ask you if you think anything's come up."

"…goodness." The dragon thought for perhaps five seconds. "No, I can't say I've noticed anything major… you've only improved, from the pony I first had a crush on."

"Good," she said, and then as the waltz ended reached up, pulled his head down, and gave him a fiery kiss. "That's about what I think, too," she said softly, as her lips released his.

Spike's eyes were suddenly wet with unshed tears. "You… really?"

"Yep." She winked, suddenly and irreverently. "It took me a long time to be sure, and I'm sorry for that. But I really have fallen for you."

Suddenly, both of them noticed that the sound in the room was ebbing away. Looking away from one another, they saw the various ponies present were clearing the dance floor.

"Should we-"

"Of course not," Princess Celestia said, startling them both as she spoke from within a few metres. "This is yours, and yours alone."

With that, she withdrew, and Spike and Rarity were alone in the middle of a cleared space at least twenty metres in every direction.

Then the musicians started playing again.

It was concert music, not dance music, and as a general rule one simply did _not_ start with a finale piece. But that didn't matter. And as the finale of the _Rebirth of the Phoenix_ began to swell around them, going from strings alone to horns to drums and flute, and swelling into one of the great triumphal musical pieces, the young-old dragon who was a mage's assistant and the unicorn who had always dreamed of creating beauty simply _danced_.

The third time they left the dance floor that night, no other pony replaced them. It would have been a cheapening of what they had just witnessed.

* * *

"So?" Twilight asked. "How did the Gala go?"

Spike beamed. "As well as it possibly could have gone. Unquestionably," and here he gave Twilight a wink, "the best night ever."

* * *

AN:

18.1: Polaris is a nuclear missile deterrent. Why, yes, Pinkie is overreaching for that joke.  
18.7: The EoH in this Loop are basically the Beatles, but with six instead of four members. (And why not.)  
18.8: Another crossover with my HTTYD Loops. Hopefully this one establishes itself properly.  
18.10: This is Carmen Sandiego, in case anyone didn't recognize it. (I didn't.)  
18.13: The Rebirth of the Phoenix is in fact Stravinsky's Firebird. Also, all three piano pieces mentioned are real ones from our world.  
(Also, how's that loop in particular? Fairly major plot development involved there...)


	19. Chapter 19

19.1

Twilight looked up at the refurbished castle with satisfaction. "Excellent. Well done, everypony."

AJ nodded. "Yep. A good day's work, ah'd say."

The other four Element bearers lay around in various states of collapse. It had taken a twelve-hour-long burst of effort from all six of them to get the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters habitable, but it looked pretty good.

"Right. Okay, everyone, take tomorrow off. Enjoy your new rooms," Twilight continued briskly. "AJ, you can commute if you want, or move your family in – I don't mind. But we're going to want to get to work on the monitoring station soon."

"You know," Dash wheezed, "This _can't_ be what Princess Celestia wanted you to do once we cured her sister."

"Why not?" Twilight asked, frowning. "It'll let us use the Elements on any villain who might threaten Equestria, it means we're already in one place so there's no need to waste time getting together, and it'll let us detect when villains turn up in the first place."

"You think there might be any?" Rarity asked, pulling herself upright.

"Probably." Twilight shrugged.

* * *

"Right. Trixie calls this meeting of the League of Minor Antagonists to order."

There was a hubbub of confused voices.

"Trixie said _order!_" There was a loud bang. "Thank you. Now, Trixie is sure you are all wondering why you are here."

"Well, _duh,_" Gilda said scathingly. "None of us have ever met one another. Well, except me and Lighting Dust over there."

"It's _Lightning!_" the pegasus snapped, stamping.

"Who put po-ny in charge?" Fido asked.

"Trixie did." Trixie's gaze swept the assembled ponies, griffin, Diamond Dogs, one confused buffalo, a large and irritable dragon, and Philomena the phoenix (wearing a name tag with the legend 'observer'). "Trixie came up with the idea, recruited you all, and Trixie will be in charge."

"Really?" the dragon said, grumbling.

Trixie erupted in blue light. "Really," she said casually, as the corona of power revealed her wings. "Trixie said she was great. And powerful! You should take her at her word."

"What the buck?" Lightning Dust said, blinking. "You're an _alicorn_?"

"Nope." Trixie was sitting back down, light and wings gone and cloak firmly over her back. "Why? Did you see something?"

"…oh, forget it."

"Trixie already has. Whatever it was." The unicorn waved a hoof. "Now, our objective: the Elements of Harmony. Trixie recommends stage one should begin soon."

"What's stage one?" Gilda asked.

"Why, that's simple." Trixie grinned, activating a slide projector. "We place buckets of water over doors that they _tend to walk through._"

"Po-ny is clearly insane," Fido muttered.

The buffalo nodded, still wondering why he wasn't in a desert any more.

* * *

19.2

"Okay, come on." Spike stood, and gestured to his girlfriend – a word that still gave him a little frisson when he thought it. "We're going flying."

Rarity flinched. "Do we have to?" she asked, covering for her slip.

"Well, you don't _have_ to," Spike admitted. "But I saw how you were last loop – don't try and deny it, either. You really don't like flying."

"I don't, no." That was no great secret. Luna hadn't managed to do much more than deeply bury the fear in armour of ice, and while it didn't paralyze her in terror… it was still obvious from the sheen of sweat that Rarity _did not like_ flying.

"Well… I dunno," Spike shook his head. "You _earned_ those wings of yours, Rarity, and I… I know what it's like to hate your own body."

The dragon shook his head again. "But hate's too strong a word. More like… dislike? Or just feel like you can't bring yourself to use the full scope of its abilities? No, that's not it either. It's so hard to-"

Rarity pressed a hoof against his lips. "I _do_ know what you're trying to say, Spike." Then she chuckled. "Even if you're not doing very well at saying it."

"I'm at a disadvantage!" Spike said. "There's a hoof in my face."

"It wasn't when you started talking, dear," Rarity riposted.

"Got any proof?" For a moment, the young dragon grinned wickedly. Then his face fell, as he remembered the topic.

After a moment, Rarity nodded. It seemed like she was nodding half to herself. "Okay, you have a point. I'm an alicorn now – or I can be – and letting that go to waste would be simply atrocious."

"Yeah. Besides, I'll be there."

"And I couldn't ask for a better." Rarity then giggled. "Oh, but I hope you're going to age to the point you have wings! I'm _not_ learning to fly while carrying you on my back!"

The dragon frowned. "That's a point. Actually… should we ask Dash to help? She's the best flier we know."

"She is, yes…" Rarity considered. "No, I don't think so. Dash finds flying far _too_ easy. It's first nature to her. If anything, my preference would be for Fluttershy – she's by no means a natural flier, and she's had to work at it."

"True. Shall I get her?"

"No." Spike blinked at how firmly Rarity had spoken, and she shook her head with a knowing grin. "Dear me, Spiky-wikey, you do miss the wood for the trees sometimes. You're a great big strong dragon! I'd lay odds it was just as hard for you to learn as it was for Fluttershy to."

"Probably harder, you're right." Spike thought back. "Yes, it was hard enough for me to force myself into the air. But I still think we should get Fluttershy, because she's the one who had to overcome a fear of flying."

"Next time," Rarity decided, after a moment. "Unless this time goes well. But let's see how we do alone together first."

"Okay." Spike squared his shoulders. "Sounds good."

"And after this I'm going to get your adult form properly measured." Rarity's eyes took on what might be considered a slightly dangerous glint. "I won't have you without a decent wardrobe, whatever your size!"

"…we're not going to be declaring war for the materials, are we?" Spike asked, with a crooked smile.

"I swear!" Rarity quite deliberately flounced. "You invade another sovereign nation in the search for swatches _one_ time, and you're hearing about it forever!"

That was good for a shared laugh.

"Thanks, love," Rarity said, quietly, after a minute or so of silence. "You're right, I _do_ need a kick up the backside about it. Sooner or later, there'll be a loop where I _need_ to fly."

Spike shrugged awkwardly. "I kind of wanted to show you a few good romantic spots, too. Just the odd little place I like to go and meditate, but if we could both get there then they'd be perfect for a picnic."

"Ah, motivation…" Rarity looked off into the middle distance. "I look forward to it. Well, let's go. Where do you suggest we start?"

"Ponyville dam," Spike replied promptly. "The lake's a good safe splashdown spot, and hard flapping is at least a simple way to fly – you feel you're in full control, and it lets you get that part of it down. Besides, your actual _skill_ is good… it's a psychological thing."

"Very well, then." The unicorn summoned a swimsuit. "Nice day for a swim."

Spike blinked. "Are you trying to distract me? Because… it's kind of working, actually…"

* * *

19.3

"I actually kinda wish _I_ had a grandmother half as neat as yours," Diamond Tiara said absently. "I mean, she got a land patent from Celestia herself!"

"Always with th' hob-nobbing fer you, ain't it?" Applebloom shook her head. "And here ah thought you were gettin' to appreciate commoners."

"Well, I do." Diamond pointed over at Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. "See? I appreciate them."

"Y'all _bribe_ them."

"We are totally happy with that!" Scootaloo said, balancing an ice cream about the size of her leg. "Bribery is good!"

"But as I was saying," Diamond pressed, "I do appreciate commoners. But you, oh farmer's daughter, are _yeomanry_."

"…what?" Applebloom blinked, trying to remember the meaning of the word. "Ain't that the same thing?"

"Not quite." Diamond bestowed a disapproving look on her, with only a slight smirk to reveal she didn't mean it. "Silver?"

"It's simple." Silver Spoon pointed over at the distant orchard. "Basically, you own your own land – or, rather, your family does."

"...wait, that's it?" Applebloom felt vaguely disappointed.

"Well, yeomanry have other characteristics." Diamond smiled beatifically. "Chief amongst them a stubbornness of truly gargantuan – neigh, epic – proportions. One that puts such little things as a thousand years on the moon into the shade."

Applebloom giggled. "Okay, you got me. But why does that make us yeomanry, instead of commoners?"

"Basically…" Diamond looked a little embarrassed. "Actually, it's because there used to be three kinds of ponies. Ones who had others work for them, ones who worked for themselves, and ones who worked for others. And most of the top lot didn't care about the difference between the other two."

Then she made a throwing away gesture. "But who gives an apple. They'd consider Silver and I nouveau riche, you an uppity yeoman's daughter and Scootaloo and Sweetie to be dreadfully common."

"So… what you're saying is, none of it matters anyway," Applebloom said slowly.

"Yes, yes, but don't expect that in writing." Diamond frowned, then raised a hoof. "Idea! I give you poor, benighted provincials – and Silver, of course – a taste of true class."

"Which is?" Four voices said, not quite in chorus.

"…hay if I know. As far as I can tell, though, class tastes like expensive chocolate. So that seems like a good start." Diamond counted out bits. "Wow, I never realized just how _much_ allowance I had… which way is Sugarcube Corner?"

* * *

19.4

"Okay, guys," Sora said, summoning Fimbulwinter and Fafnir. The two keyblades crackled with frost and fire, and air began to swirl around him. "In fast, beat up Axel, then we can finally get our Gummi ship back this Loop."

"Gotcha!" Donald quacked, his own legendary weapon snapping with power.

He and Goofy fell in behind their Anchor, as he broke down the doors of Twilight Town's old mansion.

"GREETINGS!" a large, blue-black animal shouted. She (he?) reminded Sora of a cross between a unicorn, Hercules' friendly pegasus… and Saix, somehow. "YOU WOULD BE THE DESTINED CHILD WHOSE MEMORIES WE HAD TO REBUILD IN THY DREAMS?"

"Er… yeah?" Sora looked around, trying to spot something different. Nope, the mansion was the same as ever… but those winged-unicorn statues now looked kinda suspicious. "Where are you from?"

"EQUESTRIA." The… whatever-she-was said, lowering her voice enough that Sora could at least detect a gender. "NOW… WHERE IS THE NEAREST POOL? WE NEED A HOLIDAY."

* * *

"Filling in for Auntie Luna suuucks," Nyx grumbled. "Moon goes up, moon goes down. It's _boring._ Hmmm… wonder if I could make it go… sideways?"

Naminé shrugged. "I'm just grateful for the rest."

* * *

19.5 (inspired by "New Recruits", a picture by DMKruiz.)

"Well, ah got to admit…" Applebloom walked around the first applicant. "She ain't got a cutie mark."

"But she's _way_ too old." Scootaloo carefully scrutinized the nervous applicant, who began to turn rather more annoyed. "Like… at least twenty."

"Well, I say we should take her." Sweetie Belle nodded. "'Bloom? Scoots?"

"Yeah, sure." Applebloom nodded as well, and after a moment Scootaloo made it unanimous.

"Can you, er… transform smaller?" Sweetie asked, rummaging amongst their things. "We don't have a large size cape."

"Fine." Queen Chrysalis flashed with green fire and became much smaller. "This will do?"

"Yep," Applebloom answered.

"As for the other one… hey, can you take off your armour? We need to see if you have a cutie mark."

**"Crys-tals!"** Sombra said, shocked.

"No, I didn't mean it like that!" Sweetie babbled, then blinked. "Wait. We don't even _have_ that kind of taboo."

* * *

"You think this stands the best chance of working?" Princess Celestia asked, watching as the Crusaders (three official, one probationary) chased Sombra around the meadow trying to get a look at his flank.

"Well, it's worth a try…" Twilight held up a book. "Apparently it's called reintegration therapy."

* * *

19.6 (Filraen, continuation of 17.3 take two)

* * *

In Rainbow Dash's opinion, it was a pity they had to halt a great prank. Then again, giving a place of rest for other loopers was something Princess Celestia ordered to all of them and the pegasus agreed with the reasons. Explaining all of that to a non-Awoke Celestia, after she they had used their dark alicorn forms? Awkward.

* * *

_"Is that it?" Celestia was very worried about this development. Was this a trick born for the darkness and corruption to make her let her guard down? She wasn't sure what she would do, alone or with the Day Guard as backup, against six alicorns in direct combat. Were they telling the truth? And what was the role of Discord, who was currently eating popcorn with Starlight Breaker, in all of this? She wasn't sure what option was the more terrifying one._

_"I think we can offer some proof and fix everything at the same time," Twilight Sparkle said before looking back to the other ponies and nodding. Then all six of them changed into alicorns, finally seeing how the corruption took their forms. Fearing what she had really unleashed in Equestrie a cold sweat ran through Celestia when Eternal Twilight's horn started to shine and then she saw appearing... the Elements of Harmony!? How could they answer to anypony's call? After each alicorn wore an Element, Celestia saw how a rainbow-colored wave spread from the alicorns, warm to the touch, fixing the castle and clearing the sky._

_"So, how was it?" Eternal Twilight said, in a voice not unlike Twilight Sparkle._

_Celestia decided it was the best moment to faint._

* * *

But that didn't matter right now. She was back in Ponyville and taking care of the weaher as usual and with a new apprentice this loop she could have more time to nap which was always a good thing.

"Twilight told me you can control the weather, how does that work?" Starlight... no, Nanoha asked. By some reason she didn't like to be called for her pony name.

"Well, we usually work in teams to move clouds and make different weather patterns. Do you see how I'm standing -not flying- on a cloud right now?" Rainbow Dash asked while stomping the cloud with one hoof for emphasis.

Nanoha nodded, while hovering by the rainbow-maned pegasus side. She seemed extremely at ease in a pegasus body, Rainbow Dash noted, barely walking if she could fly.

"I'd normally start with you trying to stand on a cloud, but… you seem to have a good knack for flying."

"I just love flying, and having actual wings here is very interesting." Nanoha's eyes sparkled.

"I can understand that, just tell me if you're getting too tired to take a rest." Rainbow Dash smiled. "Time to practice: try to buck this cloud..."

* * *

"Hey, Twilight, can I borrow some parchment?" Rainbow Dash asked her friend.

"Let me see if there's some left around here." Twilight looked at the ruins of the library - the lack of walls giving a great vantage point to see the ruins of Ponyville. "Here. What for, anyway?"

"I want to write a letter to Princess Celestia about what I've learned this loop: never let Nanoha in the weather management team when there's a thunderstorm scheduled."

* * *

19.7 (Madfish)

* * *

The villagers of Ponyville were shocked. They'd just seen a tripped, spun, slipped, inverted, flipped and finally netted Nightmare Moon – now hanging from the ceiling.

Applejack turned to face the Mayor and coincidently the crowd she laid out the sequence of events.

"That's amazing… but if there's no Nightmare Moon who is that?" asked the Mayor gesturing at the net.

"Rarity if yah would?"

With a beam of light from her horn the makeup removal spell washed over 'Nightmare Moon' revealing-

"Royal Celebration Co-ordinator Twilight Sparkle!" shouted an even more shocked crowd.

"The one thing we didn't get was the 'why', Sugarcube," Applejack said. "Why the whole Nightmare Moon scam? What did you gain by faking that Ponyville would hold the Summer Sun Celebration?"

"The five of you did pretty well," Twilight answered sounding rather unworried for a party wrecker in a net being stared at by a growling Pinkie Pie. "The part of the plan you failed to understand was that I moved every calendar in Ponyville forward a day and cast a spell to stop anypony noticing."

"But why?" pressed Big Macintosh Apple from where he'd triggered the net.

"Simple. I needed to find a group of ponies to stop Nightmare Moon." Twilight nodded to herself absently.

"But, Darling, you're Nightmare Moon," Rarity pointed out, gesturing to the costume wings that had fallen off at some point in the process.

With a certain smugness Twilight finished filling in the gaps, "Only for tonight. Tomorrow at the real celebration, which really is here by the way, the real Nightmare Moon will be freed and kidnap Celestia unless I can find a group of 6 Ponies like yourselves to stop her."

"You'll forgive me darling if we're… sceptical." Rarity frowned uncertainly – it sounded a lot like Twilight was a few stitches short of a dress.

"No fur off my muzzle, I've done my bit. You've already got the book in the Library so tomorrow the six of you can go to the Old Palace and get them." Twilight kicked back.

"Well," said the mayor after a moment of silence, her voice firming "take her away!"

As she was led out the door Twilight shouted back, "And I've gotten away with it because of you Meddling Mares and your Studly Stallion!" Then somewhat quieter with distance, "Seriously! Studly! Call me some time!"

* * *

19.8 (Stainless Steel Fox)

* * *

"Gentlemen, it appears one of the guests of honour is late, probably still caring for an injured animal, knowing her. She is a butter yellow pegasus with a pink wavy mane and tail. She is also rather timid, so I want you to treat her with the utmost courtesy and gentleness. I'm sure you will do your duty in an exemplary fashion."

The two guards standing in front of the entrance to Sugarcube Corner both nodded curtly.

Twilight looked around. She was not going to let this instance of the party slip into the sort of disaster that the original was. "Rarity, how's the anti-mess spell holding up?"

"It's marvellous, Twilight!" The unicorn mare returned, enjoying the feast spread in front of her. "I must put it on all of my dresses! Where did you find it?"

"In an old book of household charms." Where she'd written it after creating it from scratch over the last couple of loops. "I don't see why you couldn't enchant it into one of the gems using a rune matrix to make it permanent. I'll draw something up for you."

"Thank you, darling... Salad fork over there, soup before salad, Applejack," she said to the bewildered looking farm-mare alongside her.

"Thanks kindly sugarcube, it's been a long time since I did this kind of fancy eating."

Satisfied that they were both happy, Twilight checked on Pinkie Pie, just in time to divert a seven layer cake into the pink pony's trajectory and prevent her taking Princess Celestia's cake.

"Thank you, sirs." Fluttershy's voice came from the door, and Twilight went over to intercept her.

"I'm so glad you could make it. It wouldn't be the same without you."

"Sorry I'm late, I had to finish taking care of a patient first."

Twilight smiled at her. "It's okay, I thought it was something like that. Come on, I know the Princess is going to love you, and she's brought a her pet phoenix with her."

Fluttershy's eyes sparkled at the idea. "Ohh!"

They came over just as Celestia finished tea trolling the Cakes. "Princess, may I present my friend Fluttershy."

The princess turned her gaze on the yellow pegasus. "Ah yes. I understand from Twilight Sparkle's letters that you enjoy tending to the needs of woodland creatures."

"Oh yes, your highness, I love to take care of animals."

"As do I. As Princess, I care deeply about all creatures, great and small. Nothing means more to me than the well-being of all my subjects." The half-dead parrot in the cage next to her chose that moment to cough. "Ah, Philomena, my pet. You're awake. Do say hello to our gracious hosts."

"Oh my..." Fluttershy was as usual shocked to see the state of the pet. Twilight quickly stepped in.

"Princess? I didn't realise she was that close to a burning day. I guess you wouldn't want to leave her alone while she goes through it."

The Princess nodded. "As you say, I wanted to be there for her."

Fluttershy looked confused. "Um... what's a burning day? If you don't mind me asking..."

Twilight kicked in lecture mode 1. "A phoenix is pretty much immortal, but they do it by regenerating every hundred years or so. When a burning day approaches, they start to moult and look ill, and eventually burst into flame and burn to ash."

Seeing Fluttershy's horrified expression she quickly added. "It's okay, they regenerate from the ashes into a younger version of themselves. It's just a part of their natural life-cycle."

"Twilight, I hadn't realised you'd studied phoenix life-cycles." Celestia said with a slightly surprised expression.

"I found a book on exotic creatures in Golden Oaks Library, and considering we're next to the Everfree..."

A Royal guard came up and whispered in the princess's ear. "Really? Well, if I must... I'm sorry, everypony. I'm afraid I have to cut the party short. The mayor has requested an audience with me. Royal duty calls. Thank you for a wonderful time. It's been a joy getting to know you all better."

"Uh! Princess, before you go, do you mind if Fluttershy and I look after Philomena while you're at the meeting? I'm sure Fluttershy would love to take care of her."

"I don't see why not." The Princess replied. "Farewell, every-pony."

Fluttershy looked wide eyed as the Princess left. "Oh thank you Twilight! I'll take really good care of her!"

"I thought you'd enjoy it. I'll get that book." Twilight replied. "Though really all we can do is make her comfortable until she burns up."

* * *

19.9

Twilight grinned into the camera. "Hello, and welcome to 'Tough Science.' I'm your host, Twilight Sparkle, and with me are Rainbow Dash and Trixie Lulamoon."

She then looked a bit nervous. "Actually, they kinda scare me…"

"Come on, come on!" Trixie's horn glowed, and the camera moved around to focus on her. "We've received many letters from all over Equestria, asking us important questions that must be answered for science. Dash! The first letter!"

"Right." Rainbow Dash lifted a letter from the pile. "This one's from a little colt by the name of Pipsqueak, and he asks 'is Luna best princess?'" Dash blinked. "Can we even…"

Trixie shook her head. "A simple question, with two answers. The first answer is 'of course not, that would be you, your highness'. And the second answer is 'yes you are, please don't hurt us Princess Luna.' The answer depends who is asking."

"Isn't that kind of… cynical?" Twilight asked from off camera.

Trixie shrugged. "Next letter!"

"Right." Dash rummaged around. "Ooh, I like this one."

"Do tell." The unicorn moved over to have a look.

"'Dear Mythbuckers,'"… Trixie paused. "Twilight! Trixie _told_ you that we should be called the Mythbuckers!"

"They only call us that because you wrote the adverts and put that on them!" Twilight shouted back.

"Talk to the hoof." Trixie went back to the letter. "Hm. Apparently this pony is asking us how big a crater it would make if a barrel of rainbow extract were detonated."

"Actually, that's interesting." Twilight wheeled a blackboard in front of the camera, and started drawing. "You see, explosions going off in the air don't tend to create a crater at all. They cause a lot of pressure wash, but no crater unless the fireball of the explosion itself hits the ground. If the explosive goes off on the ground, then it can make a crater, but the best thing to do for a really big one is to camouflet – that's when the explosive goes off _under_ground."

"…thank you." Trixie bucked the board back offscreen. "But who cares what the numbers say, we're going to blow stuff up ourselves! Dash, where did you put that rainbow extract we… liberated?"

"You did what?" Twilight asked.

"Forget you heard that!" Trixie then looked at the camera. "We can edit the incriminating statement out, right?"

* * *

"Three, two, one…"

The ground heaved up, and then it rained dirt onto the three ponies and their slit trench.

"Excellent!" Trixie said, surveying the crater almost as soon as turf had stopped landing. "At least twice as big!"

"So, that's the answer?" Dash asked. "I mean, we've done, like, ten tests by now."

"We have…" Trixie tapped a hoof on the ground. "But we did not test a detonation where the barrel of rainbow extract goes off next to _other_ barrels of rainbow extract."

Twilight blinked. "Oh, Celestia… I can't tell which of you two corrupted the other, but it's not making for quiet loops."

"Quiet is boring!" Trixie replied indignantly. "Besides, Trixie at least exercised discretion on the princess question. Clearly best princess is Trixie."

Dash and Twilight both looked peeved, but let it go. "Right."

* * *

"I would never even consider this were we not in a time loop," Twilight said absently, lifting the last barrel onto their pile. "Right, what did we say minimum safe radius was?"

"Trixie prefers to put it this way." The unicorn made an expansive gesture. "Good thing we're in the frozen north."

"True." The unicorns fired off cloud-walking spells and then teleported to a cirrus forty miles away, and Dash lit the fuse before rocketing off into the air to join them.

* * *

"And there's the answer," Twilight said to camera. "With the right environment, a properly buried charge, and lots more rainbow extract, the resultant crater can be as large as half a mile. But don't try this on your home planet unless you're really careful."

She turned. "Isn't that right, Trixie?"

"Worth it!" Trixie shouted from the hospital bed.

Twilight sighed. "Anyway. If you're doing these kinds of experiments, you really need to make sure you have as many magical precautions as you can – as well as non magical ones, too."

* * *

"So this is what you learned last Loop?" Celestia asked, as the video ended.

"Yeah…" Twilight shrugged. "I've been kind of scraping the barrel for a while now… at least for lessons to learn with Trixie. With her, it tends to be 'don't use high explosives to make breakfast'."

The ground shook.

"Speaking of which, I think she's finished making the crumpets. Want one?" Twilight asked.

"I think I will pass, thank you," Celestia replied solemnly. "And I fear for Equestria next time she's in charge."

Twilight shook her head. "Actually, Trixie _is_ fairly sweet… she's just an adrenaline junkie. And you can't talk, oh Princess Cowabunga."

* * *

19.10

"Oh, ah see!" Applejack said, noticing the small copse of apple trees. "Mah element must be manifestin' as somethin' like mah cutie mark!"

Discord chuckled soundlessly. As he'd thought, the intricate maze he'd woven was convincing the Element bearers that he'd set up some kind of _test_.

"Thought so!"

Wait, what?

Discord blinked, noticing that Applejack was now wearing her Element of Honesty.

"Where did you even get that?" he asked, materializing with a whoosh.

"Ah just did." Applejack shrugged.

Discord grit his teeth, as over on the other side of the maze Rarity's element turned up out of nowhere.

* * *

Twilight giggled. "This maze of yours isn't doing too well, is it, Discord?"

"Shut up!" he said petulantly. "And you don't have your element, so there. A unicorn without a horn doesn't have _any_ magic, so you _can't_ deserve your element now!"

"Oh, yeah, about that…" Twilight hefted a box from behind a hedge. "I found them."

Discord focused in on the box. It was a large crate, with a horn next to an "X 6" legend, and a wing next to an "X 12".

"But… I didn't…"

Twilight kicked the box, which fell open. There was a moment of confusion, and then all six Element bearers were alicorns.

"Huh. Cool!" Pinkie said, looking herself over. "This is super amazing! Hey, Twilight, you got your groove back!"

"My what?"

"I mean… horn." Pinkie pointed. "And element, too!"

Discord's jaw hung open. Then he knelt down in front of them. "You win. Teach me how to prank, you're clearly better at it than I am."

Twilight shook her head. "Prank? I don't know what you mean. But if we have won, mind putting everything back the way it was?"

"Fine." Discord snapped his claws.

"No, not like _that_," Twilight grinned. "Dear me, Discord. Evacuate the castle, and then restore it to how it was – in _your_ time."

"There wasn't a castle there in my time…" Discord said, then it dawned on him. "Oh, wow. You _are_ good."

* * *

19.11

SCP-2314

**Classification:** Safe Euclid Keter Euclid

**Special Containment Procedures:**

Since SCP-2314 possesses the ability to teleport with no known range limit, containment in a meaningful sense is effectively impossible. The approach taken at site-12 has been essentially one of psychological containment - SCP-2314 is made to be comfortable in the assigned containment room, and encouraged to stay.

To this end, SCP-2314 is provided a large (10x10x5 m) main room, with access to separate lavatory facilities, and many of the same conveniences found in a normal suburban home. In addition, a discretionary fund has been set aside to keep SCP-2314 supplied with new books - SCP-2314's voracity for the written word has proven amply sufficient to keep it content.

Food is strictly vegetarian, but aside from this little different from human norms combined with standard equine preferences. (Note: apparently daisy sandwiches are considered a delicacy – possible reward?)

**Description:**

SCP-2314 is an equine being, approximately five feet in length and four in height. Its coat is predominantly purple, with a striped mane (provenance of striping unknown and under investigation) and a small single horn in the middle of the forehead.

SCP-2314 is female, professes to be fully mature, and is overall cooperative with investigations but projects an air of tolerant amusement. SCP-2314 has full understanding of and ability to speak English, though occasionally words are used which are alterations of English (for example, 'beforehoof' as opposed to 'beforehand'). SCP-2314 refers to herself as "Twilight Sparkle".

In addition, SCP-2314 possesses abilities which are effectively consistent with those of reality warpers. Teleportation and telekinesis in particular have been noted, and it has been determined that SCP-2314's horn glows when such an ability is being used. The reasons for this are not yet known, but SCP-2314 has little objection to subjecting to a variety of tests on these and other 'magic'.

**Addendum: **

SCP-2314 self-identifies as a unicorn, and it is recommended to use this term when referring to her species.

Also, whoever classified her as Keter was an idiot. Yes, she can teleport. Yes, she's intelligent. Yes, she sometimes seems to be smarter than we are (whoever gave her that book on quantum physics should take note of the annotations in the margins). But she shows neither attempts nor desire to break out of containment, and frankly I don't see her doing anything particularly nasty if she DID leave. For goodness' sake, she's addicted to books. We could recontain her by staking out the nearest library.

* * *

**Excerpt from interview SCP-2314-2:**

Interviewer: "So, you're a… unicorn."

SCP-2314: "Yep."

Interviewer: "Where'd you come from?"

SCP-2314: "Canterlot, originally. Sorry that's not much help as an answer, but it's the best one I've got. Perhaps we should focus more on my abilities?"

Interviewer: "I'm asking the questions."

SCP-2314: "And I'm suggesting better ones. Hey, watch this!"

*slight humming sound*

Interviewer: "…why is the table glowing purple and floating?"

SCP-2314: "Telekinesis. Cool, isn't it?"

Interviewer: "…I'll be right back."

SCP-2314: "Okay! Be back soon!"

From this it should be clear that SCP-2314 is both enthusiastic and does not stick to the script. A collegiate attitude is recommented.

* * *

Twilight waved to the security cameras. "Morning!"

It was an interesting experience, being the subject of study like this. It would be nicer if they'd just trust her enough to help with examining the _other_ creatures or objects in containment, but a steady supply of books was good enough. (That and hearing them trying to work out how her magic operated. It was getting _so_ tempting to just tell them, but it kind of felt like that would spoil it for them…)

* * *

19.12

The Nine Riders of the Nazgul rode out of Mordor. They crossed the Anduin by night, then reached the Fords of Isen on Midsummer's Eve.

And at that point, all nine horses blinked.

"What the hay?" Twilight Sparkle asked, shrugging violently and throwing the Witch-King of Angmar off her back. "Where are we?"

"I dunno!" Pinkie answered, shaking herself like a dog as Khamul the Easterling went flying.

The other four Elements, Luna, Shining and Cadence kicked their respective burdens off with equal ease, the Nazgul not expecting their brutalized mounts to suddenly lose all fear of them.

"Wait a second…" Shining frowned. "This is Arda. I remember reading the books."

"Oh, right!" Twilight nodded, as the Nine began to get up. "Yeah, sorry, I was here once before but in a _completely_ different place."

She then shot a look at the Witch-King. "And as for you, the prophecy only says no man can kill you. I'm a female unicorn. Sod off."

The Witch-King looked back and forth between the nine rebellious horses and his eight fellows. Then all the Nazgul drew morgul-steel.

"Suit yourself. Elements, girls."

* * *

The flash of rainbow light could be seen from Minas Tirith.

* * *

"Okay, what now?" Cadence asked, as Twilight (restored to her base form by the use of the Elements of Harmony) converted the remaining three black horses into unicorns or alicorns as appropriate.

"Well… I guess Celestia must be here somewhere." Twilight tapped a hoof. "Actually, she's probably Shadowfax. After that… anyone fancy invading Mordor?"

"What, just us?" Rarity asked, taken aback.

"Nah, I bet Spike's around somewhere." Ignoring Rarity's sudden blush, Twilight continued, "Dragons are powerful here, and I doubt Sauron would be too happy to be hit by the Elements regardless of that."

* * *

Denethor tapped the Palantír of Minas Tirith. "I swear, if this has broken…"

The seeing stone persisted in showing a motley group of brightly coloured horses – some with wings, horns, or both – cantering east along the great road.

* * *

19.13 (from Melavio)

* * *

Rarity looked around as she Awoke, and noticed a few off things. First, she was in a castle that certainly was not the Royal Pony Sisters castle, nor was it Canterlot, nor even the capital of the Crystal Empire. Secondly, she was very much a human again. Lastly, and strangest yet, there was a candelabra and a clock that were currently conversing with her. They seem to be looking at her with varying expressions of worry and curiosity. Searching through her memories, Rarity noted that she was Rarity Belle and had come to this castle to beg for her father's release from the clutches of the evil Dragon.

At least Spikey-Wikey was likely in the loop with her.

"Ah! Mademoiselle, it is a pleasure to meet you! My name is Lumiére, and this square fellow of mine is Cogsworth," the candle holder noted, gesturing to his friend.

"A pleasure to meet you Mademoiselle," the clock stated before bowing.

Rarity smiled and curtsied, "Why thank you for the introductions, monsieur's. My name is Rarity, and I'm looking for the Dragon to release my father."

Lumiere's smile faltered, "Ah well, our Master is a bit temperamental, so let us go elsewhere first and-" *WOOOSH* A large creature descended from the rafters and landed behind the two animated objects. Gulping, Lumiere and Cogsworth both turned around to find…their Master smiling tenderly?

"Bonjour, Mademoiselle Rarity. It is good to see you again," stated the large purple dragon. He bent down to take Rarity's hand in his claw and gave it a gentle kiss.

'Good, Spike is awake this loop.' "Enchente, Monsieur. As I explained to your wondrous servants here, I am looking to secure the release of my father."

Spike cocked an eyebrow, "I'm sure we can arrange something." Both of the loopers began to walk towards where Spike knew the dungeons would be, but were stopped by the loud rumbles of Spike's stomach and the matching sound from Rarity's. Both blushed before Spike spoke up. "Um…I don't suppose you would grab us a quick meal, would you Lumiere?"

Looking back at the two, Spike and Rarity found Cogsworth desperately trying to clean his glass face and Lumiere with his mouth open. Lumiere quickly closed it as the question floated down to him and decided to go with the flow. Perhaps they would get this curse broken yet.

"But of course, Master. Follow me." Both loopers followed the bouncing candle into a grand hall before sitting down at an equally grand table. Coughing to clear his throat, Lumiere began to speak.

"Monsieur and Mademoiselle. It is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that we welcome you tonight! Now, we invite you to relax, to pull up a chair, as the dining room proudly presents…your dinner."

* * *

"Marvellous," Rarity pronounced. "I must admit, I don't tend to eat meat, but this meal was good enough that I might – almost, almost! – consider doing so more often."

Spike nodded, seeing what she was actually saying. It was a reminder that she normally didn't have the palate for meat – on account of not normally being human.

"Anyway. My father?"

"Of course." Spike stood, hands on the table. "There is only one possible remuneration I can accept for releasing your father. Your service to me… for ever!"

Rarity barely had time to react before Spike shrugged. "Worth a try. What about twenty years? Ten? Five? Okay, help me sort my wardrobe and a kiss for luck, and that's my final offer."

Unable to help it, Rarity burst out laughing. "You are the most atrocious negotiator I have ever dealt with!"

"Well, in my defence…" Spike paused, then shrugged. "Nope, got nothing. Anyway, my wardrobe?"

"Most certainly. Though it won't be any great hardship…"

As they left the room, Rarity frowned. "Wonder who the Anchor is? Maybe Twilight's around somewhere."

"Could be." Spike waved a hand – maybe yes, maybe no. "But then, this world's hardly small, and we could be on the other side of it from the anchor. Twilight was here once – she was a different kind of unicorn to normal, so maybe that's who the Anchor normally is."

* * *

Belle Bell, owner of a small bookshop in Ponyville, paged through a book on her counter. She was told by one of the local loopers, one Fluttershy, that the main anchor of the loop would be coming to meet her once she arrived from Canterlot. Belle was excited to meet another looper that loved books as much as she did. The door jingled, signalling a new entrant into the shop.

"Welcome to Belle's Books, where the whole world…is…*SNORT*" Belle was holding her hoof to her snout in order to contain her laughter. Before her was quite certainly the local anchor Twilight Sparkle. On her back was a quite familiar individual to Belle. If that individual was suddenly two feet tall and adorably fluffy.

The Beast snorted as Belle collapsed laughing. "I wanna go home."

* * *

AN:

Wow, I've done a lot of these...

Anyway.

19.1 is a loose Teen Titans parody, with full connivance of both magic-focused unicorn loopers.

19.4 is Kingdom Hearts.

19.9 is a kind of combination of Brainiacs and Mythbusters.

19.11 is the SCP foundation attempting (and failing) to cope with Twilight.

And 19.13 is, of course, Beauty and the Beast.


	20. Chapter 20

20.1

"Mua ha ha!" Trixie laughed evilly, horn flaring as she reshaped the land around Ponyville to her whim.

"But… that's impossible!" Twilight cried, shielding her eyes.

"Really?" Trixie asked, suddenly sounding uncertain. "You sure?"

"Actually, yes," Twilight said. She got out some paper and wrote equations on it. Trixie moved around to watch, occasionally nodding or pointing at some particularly important clause.

"There," Twilight finished. "See?"

Trixie perused the paper, lips moving. "You are correct." The spell abruptly dissipated. "Oh well, worth a try. Do you know a good restaurant around here?"

"I've heard good things about the _Farrier's Rest_." Twilight nodded. "Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all."

Dash blinked. "Wait, what just happened? Did you just disprove Trixie with science?"

"Actually, it was logic," Twilight replied over her shoulder. "Proof by contradiction."

"But we _saw_ her! She was _doing _it!"

"Anecdotal evidence counts for nothing." Twilight walked off, discussing something or other with Trixie in a low voice.

Dash shook her head again. "Ah, whatever."

* * *

"Nice one," Trixie said, nibbling on some celery. "The looks on their faces…"

"Yeah." Twilight frowned. "Hey, tell you what. Want to turn up next time as an alicorn?"

"Trixie likes how you think."

* * *

20.2

"The Night Will Last Forever!" Nightmare Moon finished, and dramatic thunder crashed.

Then it cut off as suddenly as a knife, and a sky-blue alicorn trotted onto the stage from the left. "Mother!"

Nightmare Moon blinked, as things went abruptly off-script. "Pardon?"

"For goodness' sake, mother," the newcomer said, shaking her head wearily. "What _are _you doing?"

Some of the spectating Ponyville ponies noticed that her cutie mark incorporated a moon motif, alongside a wand. Twilight Sparkle, meanwhile, tried to avoid giggling.

"Who are you?" Nightmare Moon asked.

"And you don't recognize your own daughter!" Trixie said, shaking her head and continuing to trot up to her 'mother'. "You are drunk, mother. Come on, let's get you home."

"I am NOT drunk!" Nightmare Moon shouted. "I am the rightful ruler of Equestria, not some two-bit sot!"

"Hey!" Berry Punch shouted from the crowd, putting down her third beer of the night. "Sots are ponies too!"

"And now you're going to make a scene." Trixie's voice had what Twilight judged as an artfully recreated hitch in it. "This happens every week. Is there somewhere I'm going wrong? Some filial duty that I've failed in?" A tear rolled down Trixie's cheek.

Nightmare Moon was by this point completely confused. "Er… what… don't cry?"

Trixie smiled wanly. "Please, mother," she said, in a soothing tone. "You'll feel much better once you've slept it off. Come on, now, we can leave these poor ponies to… whatever they were doing, and go home."

There was a bright blue flash, and both alicorns vanished.

"…okay, what just happened?" Dash asked. "I mean, what?"

* * *

Trixie showed up the next morning at Twilight's door.

"Cured her!" the stage pony said proudly. "Got her drunk for real and we had a heart-to-heart, she got it all out of her system, and then I explained what was actually going on."

"Huh." Twilight noted that down. "Guess sometimes all a pony really needs is a shoulder to cry on."

"Yeah…" Trixie then blushed, and ruffled her wings. "Might not be a good method to try out again, though. Nightmare Moon can be a bit of a fighty drunk. Anyway, if Celestia asks, that's why Horseshoe Bay is now just … er, Horseshoe. Later!"

She vanished again in a puff of smoke.

Twilight cast a scrying spell. "Whoa. Yeah, that's a lot of terrain damage. Good thing nopony lives on that bit…"

* * *

20.3

"Ah, Cadence. Good to see you. If you'll just come this way?" Celestia gestured. "There's just a few matters of administration to work out before the wedding."

"Of course," Chrysalis said smoothly. "Not a problem."

There was a little flicker of anticipation coming from the ruler of Equestria, but none of the rage which would indicate her ruse was discovered… so it was likely to be just looking forward to the wedding itself.

Then she froze, halfway through a pair of double doors.

Sitting at the other side of an ornate table was the _real_ Cadence.

"Hello," Cadence said frostily. "So, who are you getting married to, and why did you feel the need to hijack my wedding? It's _my_ wedding, thank you very much!"

"But… how did you escape?"

"Magic." Cadence shrugged. "Anyway. I certainly don't have a problem with you getting married – in fact, you can take my slot – but you don't get my groom. Any preference?"

"But… what?" Chrysalis dropped her shapeshift. "Shouldn't you be angry?"

"I'm not angry, so much as… disappointed." Cadence waited a moment. "No suggestion? Right, we'll just use the best stallion we had booked – a noble from my homeland, I'm sure you'll like him. Rings… we had a couple of the hoof ring variant made, so you can take them with our blessings. Dresses… oh, no, that won't do. Shining!"

Shining Armor walked over from behind Chrysalis, shooting her a dirty look. "Yes, dear?"

"Can you go fetch your sister's friend? The one who's good with dresses? We need a rush job." Cadence nodded to herself. "I think I'll pay for it, too."

Her boyfriend nodded, and vanished in a teleport.

Chrysalis's head was whirling, trying to keep track. "What is going on?"

"Food is fine… though I'll have to handle the catering for the changeling half…" Cadence mused, ignoring her. "Oh, last minute change to the statuettes on the cake. Aside from that, I think that's everything… no, wait. What music do you like?"

Chrysalis startled. "Oh. Er, not sure."

"I'll just guess, then. Right, that's everything. Rarity of Ponyville should turn up to fit you momentarily." Cadence disappeared in her own teleport.

"…what the _buck?_" Chrysalis asked the air.

A pink blur shot into the room, bounced off three walls, and coalesced into a pink earth pony with candy-floss for a mane. "Ooh, okay… definitely liquorice for you!" Five seconds with a sketchpad, and the pony shot off again in another blur.

Then a white unicorn appeared with a tape measure and three metric tonnes of raw material. "Ah, a challenge! Goodness, though, the colour will be a sticking point… how do you feel about turquoise? It's not done to have a wedding dress that isn't white, but then that's only a custom in any case."

Chrysalis was now beyond words. Rarity took the silence to mean agreement, and began lifting up bolts of dyed silk to compare with Chrysalis' mane.

* * *

"I can't help but think that we might be storing up trouble for later this Loop…" Celestia observed absently to Shining.

"Maybe," Shining allowed, watching as his sister, his basically-a-little-brother, and Princess Luna bamboozled King Sombra into a tuxedo. "But, well, they do tend to be actually rather good for each other. Besides, this way we don't have to either change the arrangements for the wedding or have _another_ one exactly the same as our normal one." He shook his head. "Weddings are nice, but my lovely wife is a bit… obsessed with them. Just don't tell her I said that."

"My lips are sealed," Celestia assured him.

* * *

20.4

"Okay," Rainbow Dash said, frowning. "This is where we turn you into an awesome pegasus."

"…alright," Fluttershy replied. "But, didn't we already do this?"

"Yeah, kinda." Dash shrugged. "Though I don't intend to settle for good this time. I want to see awesome!"

"What does that mean?"

"Sonic. Rainboom." Dash punctuated the words with hoof-beats… then stopped, looking into the distance. "But, wait, would yours even be a _rain_boom? I mean, it's my weather magic signature that makes it be a rainbow. Ah, who cares."

Fluttershy blinked. "You think I can do that? But… you're the only pony to ever do a sonic rainboom."

"Yet," Dash replied. "Now, come on! Where's that tow rope and those butterflies…"

* * *

"Come on!" Dash urged. "You can do better than this!"

"I really can't," Fluttershy panted. To her credit, she'd just managed a three hundred mile an hour burst in a dive. Impressive enough that the Wonderbolts would probably have at least given her consideration, which was a huge improvement for the pegasus… but nowhere near Dash's goal.

"I'm just not strong enough to. I don't know how you manage to push yourself so hard with just your wings."

"…wait," Dash said, looking suddenly guilty. "What do you mean, _just_ my wings? Most of my speed is weather _magic_. Didn't I mention that?"

"Er… no," Fluttershy replied, then waved her hooves. "But I'm sure you meant to! It isn't your fault…"

"Right." Dash shot off, and teleported in with Twilight a few seconds later.

"Okay, Fluttershy," Twilight said, smiling. "Now you get to have us teach you about weather magic!"

"Yay," Fluttershy said softly. It wasn't quite clear if that was sarcasm or just… Fluttershy.

* * *

"Come on, come on…" Dash murmured, watching the speck of yellow plunge out of the sky. "Just a bit faster…"

The cloud formed, narrowed… and broke.

It wasn't a Sonic Rainboom. It wasn't a boom, there was no rainbow colouration, and it wasn't even very loud. Fluttershy's magical signature merged with the transient cloud from breaking the sound barrier, and rolled outwards like a comforting pillow.

And a swarm of butterflies, bees and birds rose to meet it.

Twilight noted that down. "So they _are_ personalized. Interesting. Maybe the original sonic rainboom was done by another pony with a rainbow signature…"

"Sounds about right," Dash agreed. "Maybe I should look that up. Oh, can you let Pinkie know it's time for a 'Fluttershy is super awesome' party? She deserves it."

* * *

20.5

"Ah, it's good to see you, little mother."

Fluttershy eeped. "Can't… breathe…"

Leman Russ released her, ignoring the gobsmacked expressions of his honour guard. "And these must be Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack and Rainbow Dash!"

"Ah, you remember us!" Twilight said, smiling. "I hoped you would."

"I could never forget you." The Primarch tapped a massive finger absently against his sword hilt. "Now, what's first… of course! A feast!"

Pinkie grinned. "I like the sound of that!"

The Space Wolves thought it over, and decided – en masse – that they did as well.

* * *

"So, what brings you to my humble corner of the universe?" Russ asked that evening. The two Fenrisian wolves he always raised lounged around him, all three dwarfing the six Equestrian visitors quite handily.

"Well… we just, turned up here." Twilight shrugged. "Loops are fairly random, after all. Though, actually, none of us have much idea what a normal Dark Millennium Loop is like. Anything you can tell us?"

"Oh, don't get me started!" Russ shook his head. "Bjorn can tell you all about it, he usually lasts quite a while even if I get thoroughly lost to the Warp."

Bjorn made what was almost certainly a rude gesture. "I always end up in a damned _dreadnought_, you mean. Boring as hel."

Russ grinned back. "Yeah, whatever. Anyway, what usually happens is that things get _really_ nasty. I can never seem to stop all the Legions falling to Chaos – I saved the Thousand Sons, and the Raven Guard fell. Then I tried keeping the Death Guard pure, and that was it for the Ultramarines. Even tried killing off Horus, and that's when I found out the whole thing got started by a _Word Bearer!_ And as for trying to handle the Alpha Legion, I can never tell if I'm coming or going."

Twilight pondered that. "I guess Pinkie really did do a lot of good when she replaced Slaanesh."

"Wait, she did what?" Bjorn laughed out loud. "That must have been hilarious!"

"It was super fun!" Pinkie's eyes glowed. "I had _all the parties!_"

"…actually, now I'm scared," the Space Wolf looper muttered. "Wonder how Ciaphas would take that."

"Ciaphas?"

"Oh, I remember him!" Pinkie beamed. "He was awesome! Kinda nervous, though."

"I don't blame him," Leman said, sotto voce. "Little mother, your friends are sometimes a little unnerving."

"I know, Lemon – Leman, sorry." Fluttershy exhaled sharply. "But they're friends, and I wouldn't give them up for anything."

"Aye, I know the feeling." Russ scratched Geki behind the ear, looking into the distance.

* * *

"Alright, girls," Twilight said, beating her wings soundlessly to hold station in the immaterium. "Three, two, one..!"

A bolt of rainbow light sizzled across the howling wastes of the warp, and impacted dead centre on the _Eisenstein._

Twilight nodded briskly, as Nurglite daemons fled from the huge ship. "Five down, fourteen to go."

"This is getting tiring, though," Rarity admitted. "You _know_ the Elements never work so well outside Equestria."

"Yeah, I do." Twilight let her magic build up for a gigantic teleport. "But we're handling so much chaos I think we're getting a fair performance out of them anyway. Right, next stop Ultramar."

Her power crested, and in an eyeblink they were a _long_ way away.

* * *

"And… done!" Twilight ticked off another item on her list. "Webway access acquired, Webway fixed, and Commorragh cut off from the network. What's next?"

Sifting through the paper, she answered her own question. "Here we are. Necrons. Any ideas?"

Dash raised a hoof.

"Apart from too many cyclonic torpedoes."

Dash lowered a hoof.

"I know!" Pinkie said, suddenly. "I'll go chat with Trazyn! He's fun."

"Fun? Fun?" Russ goggled. "He once stole my thirteenth company!"

"Eh," Pinkie said, grinning. "Unlucky for some."

"Right, Pinkie's handling that one." Twilight pencilled that in. "Oh, how's the Emperor doing? I haven't seen him in a week."

Russ grinned uneasily. "I may have sucker punched him after he questioned Mother's presence."

"May?" Fluttershy asked warningly.

"Alright, I _did_ sucker punch him." The Primarch shrugged. "Turnabout is fair play – and at least I wasn't wearing a power fist."

He sobered. "I don't know how to thank you enough. I mean, there's still problems turning up all over the place, but the Emperor and my brothers are all still alive and… mostly… sane."

"Alpharius is the most fun one, silly!" Pinkie grinned. "Well, apart from Omegon."

"How do you even tell them apart?" Rarity asked absently.

"Guesswork!"

* * *

"…and so, in the name of the Emperor of Mankind, ruler of the million suns, and in the name of his Empire of Man, and his tributaries, we welcome you to the stars. May you live long and well amongst the heavens."

Guilliman stepped back from the com system. "How was that?"

"Laying it on a bit thick, there, don't you think?" Fulgrim asked. "I mean, come on. They're explorers, not politicians."

"Well, _I_ happen to think you made the right choice." Dorn shrugged. "I mean, it's not every decade that an out-system power turns out to have discovered antigravity and artificial intelligence before even launching a moon mission. And five thousand years ago they were nomadic hunters."

"Still are." Magnus the Red nodded. "Not one of them has a flicker of magic. That's superstitious and backwards to my reckoning."

"I agree with Roboute," Twilight said before the brothers got into too major an argument. "And I'll just remind you that it kind of _is_ my ship."

She felt a bit of a guilty thrill of pleasure at the thought. Russ had insisted, the Emperor had been interested, and she hadn't felt she could turn it down… and the huge battlecruiser had turned out to be very useful, especially packed to the gunwales with scientific equipment and experiments.

Jetbikes were pretty flippin' cool, for example.

But this was only the third time she'd managed to have the embarrassingly-titled _Saviour of Prospero_ in position to make an official First Contact.

All in all, she reflected, a 40K Loop could be quite pleasant. Well, if you headed the whole 'only war' thing off as soon as possible, and took measures to keep it well contained.

* * *

"Get OFF me!" Khorne growled, snatching at the bubbly pink blur.

"Nope!" Pinkie said, jumping from him to Tzeentch. "Ooh, what's today's plan?"

"Get rid of you!" the Chaos God replied, scowling.

"Ooh, just like all the other times!" Pinkie paused, pondering. "Ooh, alliteration. Anyway, you're really not very creative at this kind of thing."

"Just GO AND BOTHER SLAANESH OR SOMETHING!" Khorne bellowed.

Pinkie considered it. "Nah. Ooh, is that a doggy?"

"That is not a _doggy_. That is a _hound_."

"Po-tay-to, po-tah-toe." Pinkie threw it a dog biscuit, and it panted happily. "Dog. See?"

"Why can't we kill her?" Khorne asked, sighing heavily.

Tzeentch kicked something. It turned out to be a flatfish. "She's more chaotic than _we_ are right now. And that flippin' Laughing God and the Deceiver are both helping her."

"Figures."

* * *

20.6

"Hmmm…" Magnum muttered, trotting around Spike in a circle. "So, you're a dragon."

"Yes," Spike said, confirming the screamingly obvious.

"Didn't know she was the type," Pearl added. "It's certainly… exotic."

Spike bushed to the base of his scales, holding his tongue by dint of long experience.

"Motehr!" Rarity said, shocked. "Stop terrorizing my boyfriend!"

"That's not decided yet, dear," Magnum said absently. Finishing his inspection, he trotted around to in front of Spike. "So… tell me. You much of a stallion for sport?"

"Stallion, no. Sport… yes," Spike answered, thinking it over carefully.

"Hm. What kind? Hoofball?"

"No."

"What about Trottingham hoofball? I mean, it's the boring kind, but-"

"No, not that either." Spike shook his head, an displayed his claws. "I'd go through too many balls."

"What about a bat sport? Baseball? Rounders?" Magnum sighed. "Not poncy cricket, is it?"

"None of the above." Spike was starting to grin, now.

"Volleyball? Basketball? Netball? Tennis? _Table_-tennis?"

Rarity giggled as her father tried out every sport he could think of.

"All right, I give up." Magnum pointed a hoof. "Okay, wise-guy, what sports _do_ you play?"

"Play isn't the right word." Spike raised a hand and began ticking off. "Archery – though Rarity's edging me there nowadays; three martial arts; Chess-"

"Chess?" Magnum interrupted. "That's not a sport!"

"It is when Twilight animates twenty-foot chess pieces who don't know the rules. Anyway, where was I…"

"Martial arts and chess," Rarity supplied promptly.

"Thanks. Anyway, as well as those, fencing and swimming… oh, and extreme sports."

"Extreme?"

"Come on, I'll show you!"

Rarity was torn between laughing and sighing. In the end, she just giggled into her sleeve. "Oh, _dear._"

"Well, he seems nice enough," Pearl observed, as Spike led an unwary Magnum off for an afternoon's male bonding. Or possibly abject terror.

"He is."

"You're sure about this?" she pressed.

Rarity gave a huge, happy sigh. "Very," she answered, with a diamond certainty that matched her cutie mark.

"Right, then," Pearl said. "I approve of him, then."

"…just like that?" Rarity asked. "I mean… not that I-"

"Don't worry!" Her mother laughed. "It's all about _you_, dear – the whole point of meetings like this is to see if you're really happy, and to give you an out if you're not. But you haven't had that silly grin on your face since you first got your cutie mark, so _I_ certainly don't mind."

"Thanks, mum." Rarity hugged her.

After a minute or so, Pearl pulled back. "So, details."

"He's a great musician, as well – piano, mostly." Rarity sorted through details in her head. "He actually listens when I explain how my dresses and artifacts work, which is nice. He cooks well – though admittedly, as a dragon, he's had some _very_ strange ideas…"

"How bad?"

"Melon and trifle curry." Rarity stuck her tongue out. "_Bleah,_ quite frankly."

"I can see why…" Pearl said, covering a grin.

Magnum materialized with an expression frozen into shock.

Pearl frowned. "Dear?"

"…I have no problem with him can we go now please dear?" the stallion rattled off in one breath.

"Well, I suppose so, but-"

"Okay bye nice seeing you Rarity!"

Magnum disappeared in another teleport, taking his wife with him.

About a minute later, Spike came into view on a hang glider. Dropping to the floor and slowing himself with the Force, he looked around. "Did I miss them?"

"Well," Rarity said to herself, stifling a giggle, "looks like Dad hit his limit. I didn't know he could teleport that far…" She looked up at Spike. "We might want to try a different angle next time, though, Spiky-wikey. Something that doesn't traumatize my father."

"Sure," Spike nodded readily. "And, er, sorry for overdoing it."

"Don't be." Rarity shrugged. "The 'meet the parents' thing is supposed to be scary… although that is meant to be for the _colt_."

* * *

20.7

"Ready?" Shining asked.

Cadence nodded, and grinned. "One, two, three!"

The music started, with heavy use of pan-pipes. The couple – both alicorns – pranced down the steps of a Mesoamerican-style pyramid.

Pinkie might have been at least slightly bonkers to have come up with this as a wedding celebration opener, but… well, it was novel.

_"I hardly think I'm qualified," _Shining sang,_ "to come across all sanctified."_ He shrugged as they reached the bottom steps._ "I just don't cut it with the cherubim-"_

_"Shiny, what are you talking about?"_ Cadence interjected.

_"There again,"_ he continued, in a less sceptical tone, _"They're on their knees. Being worshipped is a breeze, and rather suits us in… the interim…"_

* * *

_"It's tough to be a god!"_

"You know," Twilight mused, as her brother and sister-in-law reached the chorus, "I can't tell if they're serious or not."

"It is tricky," Luna agreed. "And they, like you, both ascended."

"Indeed."

After a moment, Celestia joined them.

"I hope that the ponies attending won't take that song the wrong way…"

Twilight shrugged. "Canterlot can take a joke. Besides," she added, as the couple started literally walking on the air, "it's not as if they're _really_ pretending."

Celestia crossed her eyes. "Now I'm confused. Can you really pretend to be pretending to be real?"

That got a giggle from her sister and her erstwhile student.

* * *

"Oh, come on!" Twilight said, mouth hanging open.

"And therefore," Blueblood droned, "It falls upon the sole member of the royal family never to have had pretensions to divinity to take up the mantle of rulership until such time as the crisis of confidence has passed."

The Anchor contained her anger. It wasn't easy, though, since she was well aware that the 'crisis of confidence' consisted entirely of Blueblood feeling a bit ambitious.

"Alright," Celestia said, surprising Twilight. "Go ahead."

"Princess!" Twilight hissed. "What the-"

Celestia winked. "Come on, now, Twilight, you heard him. A crisis of confidence is something we must avoid provoking further."

* * *

"We are in awe," Luna said, reading Blueblood's latest letter. It was a mixture of abject begging for his aunt to please come back and save him from the paperwork monster, and angry orders that she not abandon her subjects now that the crisis of confidence was over. "How did you manage this?"

"That's 'didst thou', Luna," Celestia corrected.

"No it isn't," Twilight disagreed. "I am as well. That's where the plural comes from. Now spill!"

Celestia looked mischievous. "I _may_ have told everypony in the castle and bureaucracy to make sure Blueblood was fully involved in the exciting work of running the nation."

"…so every pony who needed _anything_ signed went to him," Twilight finished. "Oh, that's almost evil."

"Wait until you see my next trick." Celestia replied, eyes sparkling.

* * *

"You?" Blueblood said, looking at the sick phoenix. "_You_ are Auntie's personal representative?"

Philomeena nodded, and gave a hacking cough that covered Blueblood in soot.

"Faugh!"

She giggled behind a wing, hiding it as soon as he'd managed to get his eyes clear.

After a moment, a green flame appeared overhead and coalesced into a letter. Warily, Blueblood opened it.

"You have won a free subscription to 'Friendship' magazine," he read slowly. "We will send you a free binder and all the back episodes in just a moment."

* * *

"You didn't mean it, did you?" Luna asked. "Not _all_ of them?"

"No," Twilight admitted. "That would be several tonnes. No, just the ones relating to how you can have too much of a good thing, and so on. The lessons he needs. Who knows? Maybe he'll pick something up."

* * *

20.8 (elmagnifico)

* * *

"Macintosh, are you awake?"

"Eeyup."

Twilight's face fell as she realized that was technically true whether the stallion was looping or not.

"Are you awake-awake?"

Macintosh just tilted his head at her. This probably wasn't him, but there was one way to be sure.

"ETERNAL TWILIGHT, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Twilight facehoofed as Big Mac gave her a look like she'd gone slightly insaner than normal.

"Right. Not looping. Could we just pretend this never happened?"

Mac nodded his head, not commenting on the muttered comment he overheard as the purple unicorn left.

"I ***really*** need to work out a system with him next time he's awake..."

* * *

20.9

_Once upon a time, many years ago, Nasrudin was condemned to death. It is said he had poached one of the Kings rabbits to feed his starving children._

_His case was hopeless but he nonetheless took the only avenue open to him. He appealed to the King to have the death penalty lifted. This was so unusual that the King (perhaps out of boredom) granted the man a one minute audience._

_Nasrudin appeared before the King and said, "Your Majesty, I have been found guilty of a crime and the penalty is death. I have a unique gift and my death would be a great loss to the world, so I ask you to spare me."_

_"What is this gift?"asked the King._

_"I am the only person in the Kingdom, perhaps the whole world, that can teach horses to sing."_

_The King laughed. "And, for this outrageous claim, I should let you go?" he asked._

_"It is not outrageous," replied Nasrudin. "It takes time, a lot of patience and the gift that only I possess, but I can teach your horse to sing."_

_"Very well," said the King, "you shall have a year. You will be taken each day from prison to the Royal Stables. If you can teach my horse to sing I will spare you. If I find that you have lied to me you will be tortured before you die. Now, take him away."_

_As Nasrudin was being led away the jailer asked him, "What was the point of that? In a year you will be dead and now you will have to suffer first. You will not escape."_

_"You __may__ be right", replied Nasrudin, "but I have bought time." I now have a whole year and in that time a great deal may happen. The King may die, his horse may die or, who knows, the horse may learn to sing"._

* * *

Nasrudin blinked. "I honestly didn't see that coming."

The mare winked at him, tossed her purple-curled mane, and launched into _Siegfried and Kriemhild_ from the _Nibelunglied._

* * *

20.10 (Elmagnifico)

Macintosh went about his chores, savoring the simplicity of the tasks. Things like bucking trees, plowing fields, and preparing the farm for the reunion were all straightforward. He could look at the problems and see quite clearly what he needed to do to accomplish them.

Making amends with the members of his family that were looping? Not so straightforward.

Applejack had been outraged. The bond between Apples was not shallow, and the fact he hadn't trusted her had nearly cut that deep. Nevertheless, that was over with.

Now, all that remained was to explain to the filly humming around his feet as they brought in the day's harvest.

Applebloom had always been his "little" sister. He and Applejack were more or less equals nowadays. They split the adult tasks between them, with Granny Smith intervening when necessary. Applebloom, on the other hoof, was the one who needed a shoulder to cry on, lunches for school, and a bit of attention now and then to keep her from going completely bonkers.

Even more than Applejack, little Bloom had been the sibling he'd helped raise. He'd watched her grow from a little sprout that did little more than eat, sleep and cry to the filly she was now. She'd kept on growing, making friends, learning so much, slowly but surely moving toward adulthood. He had seen it happen to the filly umpteen times.

But this was not that filly.

The signs were more subtle than with Applejack, but they were there sure enough. She moved with a practiced ease. The adorable little mistakes she'd make from time to time were not there, or looked scripted to his eyes. When he spoke to her, he could tell she was listening, but the gears behind her eyes were obviously turning with something more than the impish schemes of a schoolfilly.

This was the looping Applebloom.

Applejack, thank the Princess, was not awake, and neither was anypony else aside from Applebloom and Twilight, if his earlier visit to town was any indication.

He stopped, the cart straining against the harness as its momentum tried to keep going despite him. Directly ahead and slightly down, there was a pair of huge sparkling eyes and and the wide smile she likley thought would get her what she wanted.

He tilted his head. What was that?

"Ah said, ahm' super excited for the fam'ly reunion! Ya think we'll get any of the Manehattan cousins down this year?"

He shook his head, both answering the question and searching his memories for the reason. Might as well keep up appearences a little longer.

"Eenope. They're on hard times out there, got ta run their bakery ta make up fer last year. Y'll meet yer cousin some other time."

"Awww..."

He was reasonably sure the ensuing pout was genuine. Those two had really hit it off after their initial meeting. He wondered if Babs had started looping...

And so, the two Apples went on, Applebloom chattering ceaselessly at her brother, Macintosh just enjoying the company of his sister, albeit an alternate version thereof.

They were almost back to the farm before he finally decided to end it.

At first, he was worried she'd have the same reaction as Applejack. It turned out his fears were misplaced. Perhaps the implications hadn't sunk in yet, but Applebloom just seemed to be happy to see him.

"An' we can go on all sorts of adventures, an' we can work on gettin' you powers!"

Mac winced as Applebloom continued.

"ooh, ah wonder when you'll become an Alicorn, ah mean, me an' mah friends haven't yet, but all the adult loopers have."

Another wince. That had been an awkward conversation. Applejack's sense of humor had apparently changed for the sarcastic.

"Would ya need an element of harmony, or would ya be able to do it like Caden-"

A large red hoof cut off the tirade. Gently, like a massive plush muffle. Two huge doe-like eyes looked up into Macintosh's, and he couldn't keep himself from smiling.

"Ah appreciate th' thought Bloomers, but ah don't need no fancy unicorn princess powers. Me an' Ms. Twilight already had a talk 'bout that. Ah just want to keep on keepin' on. If the situation comes up where ah need to be somethin' like that, we'll deal with it then."

The doe eyes continued even as the hoof left her mouth.

"We'll still have adventures an' hang out an' all that, won't we?"

Macintosh felt his smile widening as he replied.

"course we will. Ms. Sparkle gathers trouble lahk a lantern gathers moths. Ah'm sure we'll hit mor'n enough interesting adventures."

The sparks were dancing behind her eyes again, and her smile reached from ear to ear.

"An' we'll face 'em together, right?"

Macintosh winked. The answer went without saying, but a bit of reassurance wouldn't go amiss. This was his little sister, after all.

"Eeyup!"

* * *

20.11

"We need to find a good Earthbender," Katara said, looking around as though one would appear up out of the ground.

Sokka nodded, half his mind on something else. Specifically, how Toph was doing.

She'd had it hard for the first few loops after she awoke, he knew, but by now Sokka knew exactly how to manipulate events to make sure she got away from her parents every time – and without letting on that she had Metalbending, either.

_Ah, the life of an anchor_, he thought. _And I don't even have Bending. Whose idea was it to put me in charge of these guys?_

"'scuse me," a voice whispered next to him. Absently, Sokka moved aside.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome," the Anchor replied… then spun on one foot and stared, as a small orange horse surfed casually up the street on a wave of earth.

And was it him, or did the horse have milky white eyes?

"Wait a second," he said. "_Toph?_"

The horse shook its head, still moving.

"Are you a Replacement?" Sokka asked, remembering what a crazy fellow Looper in an orange jumpsuit had told him, that time Aang… wasn't Aang.

The grinding sound of earthbending died away, and the horse turned to look _almost_ towards him. "Well, shucks. Looks like ah found me a local Looper… at last…"

"Nice to meet you," Sokka said, ignoring the increasingly bewildered looks of his friend and sister. Oh, and the whole street. "I'm Sokka."

"Applejack," the horse replied. "I ain't usually blind, but ah got to admit that this whole earth movin' trick is kinda neat."

"And are you usually… a horse?"

"Nope. Pony."

"Right." Sokka thought wistfully of the alcohol he probably wasn't allowed to buy in the Earth Kingdom, then shrugged and turned to the gathering crowd. "Thank you for watching our rehearsal! We're part of the Ember Island Players, touring to raise awareness! Come see us some time!"

Sokka had learned from long experience that there was literally _nothing_ that he couldn't pass off as Ember Island Players rehearsal. Their production from the first time around had actually been relatively _accurate_…

"What is all this about, Sokka?" Katara hissed.

Sokka shrugged. "I found our Earthbender."

"But… horse?"

"Pony," Applejack corrected firmly. "And ah know Earthbendin'!"

"Can you teach someone?" Aang asked. "Like, me?"

"What the hay, let's give it a try," Applejack said. "Ah got to admit it'd be neat t' know more about how bendin' works myself, but ah learn by doin' anyway."

"I still don't think this is a good idea," Katara muttered.

"Hey, the Firebenders learned from dragons." Sokka tossed his boomerang in the air. "Nothing actually wrong with it."

He tossed the boomerang again, and a lasso snagged it from the air.

Turning, he saw the newcomer had the lasso firmly in her… mouth?

"How did you aim that?" Aang asked, staring.

"Earthbending." Applejack's voice was just a tiny bit smug.

Katara nodded. "Okay, that _is_ pretty cool."

* * *

20.12

"Are you _certain_ this is going to work?" Diamond Tiara asked, frowning at a rather unusual version of her customary headgear.

"Well…" Sweetie grimaced. "Not _certain_, no. But pretty close. I mean, we've seen this loop type once before, and my sister went over these things with a fine-tooth comb." So saying, she slipped on her necklace and its golden pendant.

"Right." Diamond gulped, then put on the tiara. When she unaccountably failed to explode, she tried to pretend she'd never been nervous at all while still keeping a close eye on it.

"Where's Silver Spoon?" Applebloom asked, her own copper-apple bracelet already firmly around one hoof.

"Dunno." Diamond touched the tiara gingerly. "How do these work?"

"I think sis said she'd made it so they were voice activated?" Sweetie thought for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. 'Harmony power, make up!'"

There was a flash of bright gold light, and when it faded Sweetie was wearing what looked like a cross between royal regalia, a filly's dress and battle armour.

"Okay, that _is_ kind of cool," Diamond allowed. "The armour is enchanted and collapses into the necklace, or whatever. But… _what_ was the command phrase?"

"Rarity said the only way we'd say it by accident was if somepony came out with a makeup line called harmony power." Sweetie giggled. "Actually…"

"Next time," Applebloom chided her. "We have enough to be going on with this time." She looked at her bracelet. "I still wish I knew how this thing worked, but Rarity is still better than me at seal script. Anyway, Harmony power make up!"

"What name did you choose?" Sweetie asked, as Applebloom's own fuku-armour materialized.

"We choose names?" Diamond said. "Why wasn't I informed?"

"Because you don't need to choose a name," the other two chorused.

"Seriously, Diamond Tiara is good enough already. Same for Silver Spoon," Applebloom added. "Though ah do need one, and I'm leaning towards Copper Apple."

"Golden Voice, for me," Sweetie replied.

There was a skidding sound, as Scootaloo arrived outside. "Hi, less-cool ponies – oh, wow, I take it back. Hi, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle."

Diamond waited. "What about me?" she asked, after several seconds of silence.

"Nah, I already said hello to you." Scootaloo winked

Diamond stuck her tongue out, before coughing and pulling it in again.

"Anyway," she said, trying not to blush at her sudden loss of dignity, "what's Scootaloo's new name?"

"Bronze Wing." Scootaloo showed her own power trinket, this one an amulet, then activated it.

"Come on!" Applebloom said, nodding at her. "Your turn."

"Okay," Diamond said. "If you say so. Er… Harmony power make up?"

Another flash of light, this one a brilliant rainbow colour.

"Right. Marvellous. Excellent." Diamond looked herself over. "What now?"

"Well…" Applebloom frowned. "Ah'm not actually sure. Ah seem t' recall that when you had this last time, you kinda… threw the tiara?"

"What about you, then?" Diamond pressed.

"Sonic powers." Sweetie posed. "I can sing loudly enough to send monsters flying!"

"And I can-"

"No, never mind that now!" Ignoring Scootaloo's hurt look, Diamond pointed at Sweetie. "You didn't mention the monsters!"

"…oops?" Applebloom tried.

"Yeah, basically, Nightmare Moon ain't going to be cured like normal, or something," Scootaloo explained, "and we have to kick monster butt until we can purify her or whatever. Anyway, as I was saying, I can-"

"But I've never got in a proper fight in my life!" Diamond wailed.

"Easy enough to fix." Applebloom nodded firmly. "Ah'll get Dash and we kin teach you martial arts."

"Martial arts?" Diamond shook her head. "How vulgar. Oh well, if there's no choice."

"Oh, there's a choice," Sweetie said, grinning. "You _could_ just throw the tiara at monsters."

"Sign me up," Diamond directed Applebloom without a moment's hesitation. "Actually, can we start right now?"

"Doesn't any pony want to know what my powers are?" Scootaloo asked plaintively.

"I'm sure Silver Spoon will," Sweetie comforted.

* * *

20.13 (Stainless Steel Fox)

* * *

Turning the Tables continued

* * *

Twilight Sparkle woke up the day before the Summer Sun Celebration in what she considered her own bed. Golden Oaks library had been her home for accumulated centuries of loops, and it was one element of the familiar she wouldn't have wanted to change. She'd manifested a spare bed for Applejack and Rarity during that sleepover, so creating a cot to keep up appearances wouldn't be any hardship.

She decided to have apples for breakfast, and in the process reconnect with another of her friends. To be honest, she was leaving the two hardest till last, Rainbow Dash since she moved around so much, and Fluttershy… well _she_would be a challenge. Without a baby dragon to 'spike' her interest, she would be very hard to approach.

Using the washroom and casting a few spells to complete her morning ablutions and shore up her cover identity, she headed out for Sweet Apple Acres. She'd covered finding out about it in-universe by asking the right questions of Rarity, so visiting to see the place for herself and buy some breakfast apples right from the source was completely ordinary.

From the carts and carriages around, even a small air-boat, it appeared the impromptu Apple family reunion had already begun. Dozens of Apple relatives were visible, helping out and generally getting on with things. But she needed to find Applejack. Ah, there was Apple Bloom. She would have to see if she could help the poor filly figure out her cutie-mark this loop. Twilight was certain her talent was for building and repairing stuff, but for some reason it never seemed to result in a cutie-mark.

"Pardon me young lady, but I'm looking for Applejack? I wanted to buy some apples for breakfast, and Rarity told me she was in charge here."

"Uh, big sis is probably in the orchard bucking apples for the festival, but she's awful busy right now. Who're you?"

Twilight had to smile at the filly's directness. "The name's Codex, I'm the new librarian. I just got into town yesterday, and I'm still finding my bearings. So what about you?"

"I'm Apple Bloom. Pleased to meet you Miss Codex." The filly head out a hoof, and Twilight took it.

"Why not drop in the library some time? We have plenty of books for fillies and colts."

"Ah, don't really read that much." Apple Bloom admitted. "I'm more interested in trying to figure out my cutie-mark."

So that particular trait had preceded Diamond Tiara's little party. Not that it was surprising, a lot of unmarked colts and fillies started to get worried when their friends started getting their marks and they didn't.

"Well, I'm not just going to hoof you the old saw about it coming in its own time. Though it will, I'm sure." Twilight liked the little filly, and wanted to do something nice for her.

"Maybe if you come to the library, I can find you things to read on cutie-marks. If you know more maybe you'll figure out what your special talent is. And remember, that isn't your only talent. You can be good at things without having a cutie-mark in it."

The filly looked at her lopsided, with a querying expression.

"Okay, take myself. I'm a librarian, but I'm also good at astronomy, and I've learned quite a bit of magic. I'm willing to bet you know some-pony who's good at something that isn't part of her cutie-mark." Twilight was willing to break cover slightly to prompt her with one example, but Apple Bloom was quite smart enough to think of it on her own.

"My sister Applejack! Her cutie-mark is apples but she's really good at rodeo stuff, herding critters and using a lasso. She's won blue ribbons in every rodeo in Ponyville for years!"

"There you are then." Twilight nodded approvingly, getting some-pony to come up with an answer themselves usually made the lesson stick better. "Your cutie-mark talent is important but it isn't the only thing that makes you special. Always remember, you are defined by what you believe and how you act, not the mark on your flank, and don't let any-pony tell you differently.."

Twilight realised she was lecturing, but she really did feel for the filly's predicament after seeing her work so hard for no reward in so many loops.

"Huh, I never thought about it like that…" Apple Bloom said, and then she smiled up at the unicorn. "Gee, you're smart! Maybe I will come and read some books."

"I'm happy to help." Twilight said with a feeling of satisfaction. Hopefully, she could help the filly cope more effectively with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon when they started acting out.

"Apple Bloom! You've still got some chores that need doing!" A familiar voice called out. Applejack was coming up to the gate.

"Okay sis! I was just resting for a bit." Apple Bloom turned away, then said over her shoulder, "Goodbye, and thanks!"

"It was my fault, I got chatting to her." Twilight said.

"Shucks, it ain't a problem. I overheard what you were saying, that was a right decent thing you did. Lil' Apple Bloom has been getting kinda antsy since her class started coming into their cutie-marks."

"I thought as much." Twilight shrugged. "I meant every word. I've seen it before, fillies who obsess on finding their cutie-marks and forget that they're more than that. Not to mention bullies who think no cutie-mark means they're a loser."

What she didn't say was that Apple Bloom was chief among the first class of aforementioned fillies.

"I hear ya! I was late coming into my own cutie-mark, so I got some of that myself. I even went sky-hooting off to Manehatten, but I finally figured out this was where I belonged. " Applejack shook her head. "Anyhow, I'm Applejack, welcome to Sweet Apple Acres!"

"I'm Codex, the new town librarian. I just arrived here from Canterlot. As for finding where I belong... Never mind." Twilight held out her hoof and prepared for a shaking.

"Well howdy do, Miss Codex, a pleasure makin' your acquaintance!" Applejack finally released her hoof and dropped hers down, crossing her other fore-leg. "So, what can I do you for this fine day?"

"I fancied some apples to go with my breakfast, and Rarity said you had the finest apples in Ponyville."

"Heh! Try finest in Equestria!" Applejack looked back over her shoulder at the mass of ponies. "Well some of my family from out of town might have their own opinion..."

"I thought there were rather a lot of ponies for just one farm."

Applejack gave a whinny of amusement. "Yup, these are my kinfolk from all over Equestria. I asked them to come help getting together the food for the Summer Sun Celebration, and they came. It ain't every-day you get to see the Princess raise the sun in person."

Twilight gave a slight flinch, just enough to be noticeable. She saw Applejack notice it, but the mare wasn't likely to pry, at least not until she knew Twilight better. She schooled her expression to pleasantness, and asked, "So anyway, how much for a half dozen apples?"

"Don't worry about it, I guess since you're new in town, you can have a free sample. Matter of fact, we're just starting to get some samples ready for when that Royal Overseer comes to check on things. I guess you could give us a second opinion."

"I really shouldn't…" Twilight said, though she wanted to, and not only to have more chance to restore her friendship. Some of the smells coming from the farm-house were making her stomach growl. "… but yes, I'd love to!"

There followed a series of introductions startlingly similar to the events of the prime time-line. But this time, Twilight took the trouble to memorise the ponies as she was introduced, though it had been made easier by repeated introductions in prior loops.

She got Applejack talking about her rodeo successes, and Apple Bloom about her school work, and did her best to get to know something about every-pony there. As with the party in Canterlot, she knew exactly how to get the other ponies talking about themselves, and as she'd learned from Pinkie Pie, remembering things about ponies wasn't hard when you thought of them as your friends.

She ended up eating rather more of the samples than she'd intended, and making entirely honest complements about their excellence, and decided she needed to balance things. "I really should help out some, after all of your hospitality…"

Applejack waved it off. "Don't worry about it! I reckon you're practically a part of the family! It's a pleasure to meet a pony who appreciates…"

"I say! Where is the pony in charge of this… shambles?"

Twilight froze up. No, it couldn't be! Had her disappearance sent Princess Celestia completely insane? She should have realised that the Princess would have to pick a replacement Royal Overseer, but out of all the ponies in Canterlot, to select _Blueblood_as her representative?

She trailed Applejack back to the gate, hoping she was wrong. No, there he was, dressed in a stylishly cut tweed jacket that he must fondly imagine made him look like a rugged pony of action. He was flanked by two Royal Guards, probably the ones who'd flown him here, presumably to highlight how important he was. Though considering his penchant for annoying ponies, maybe he actually needed bodyguards. While she'd had little to do with the Prince in her original time-line, she'd run across him several times in the loops and he'd never made a positive impression.

The fact that he'd clearly considered her achievements in both magic and academics as worthless compared to the all-important noble title and wealth he'd gotten by being born, and had been heard to refer to her as that 'jumped up little academic who subsists on my great aunt's charity' did nothing to endear him to her. She suspected he'd had designs on Cadence in more than one time-line, and her brother's romance with Celestia's adoptive niece had hardened his attitude to her family in those cases, and made him even more unbearable, something that she'd have originally believed impossible.

She pushed down her personal dislike of the stuck-up narcissistic prat, and tried to remind herself of his few positive points. He was also loyal to his great aunt, and a competent organiser. Also, while much of the Canterlot social elite were just as pleasant as any-pony else, there was a proportion of toffee nosed egotists, and Blueblood was the perfect foil to keep them in check by being even more top-lofty and superior than they were. If Celestia had been forced to deal with some of the more interesting examples of the dangers of inbreeding that Canterlot produced, she'd probably have gone Infernal Blaze long since.

However, Celestia normally kept her nephew in a close check rein, and sending him to somewhere like Ponyville to interact with normal ponies demonstrated a level of ineptitude that bordered on the imbecilic. However, that probably meant Celestia had nothing to do with it, she had probably handed off the task to some subordinate who lacked her keen appreciation of the level of disaster the arrogant clothes horse could engender simply by being his usual unbearable self. Not to mention his first port of call was the Apple homestead, which just about put the dollop of cream on this choice slice of disaster apple pie.

"I'm Applejack, and this is Sweet Apple Acres, not a 'shambles'. Are you the fella who's supposed to be checking on the vittles for the Summer Sun Celebration?"

Blueblood gave a sniff of distain. "_I_am Prince Blueblood, Royal Overseer for the Summer Sun Celebrations, and you will address me with the courtesy due to my rank!"

Twilight winced. Yup, Blueblood still had it, not that any-pony else would _want_it.

Applejack's voice took on an edge. "You can be sure I'll treat you will all the respect you deserve."

"Very well. Bad enough that Celestia's precious little charity project has run off to hide somewhere, leaving _me_to clean up the mess, but you could have at least made sure there was a carpet or something to keep my hooves clean while I crossed that yard full of dirt. It was bad enough having to walk up a dusty road, do you know what this will do to my hooficure?"

"Why I'm right sorry yer royal annoy… highness, I'll just get my kin-folk to lay down in a line so you can step from pony to pony without getting your hooves dirty."

"Don't be silly!" Blueblood exclaimed. "Look at them. They're so scruffy there wouldn't be any advantage to it. No, I suppose I will have to walk across the yard myself. The things I'm forced to do in the name of my Great Aunt…"

He walked in, trailed by the two guards who had the good grace to look at least slightly embarrassed, and the death glares of the entire Apple family. Twilight could have put a stop to it, popping wings as well as a horn in front of the idiot usually shut him up, but base-line Twilight wouldn't head for an immediate confrontation, and neither would Codex. Going alicorn would break her cover about as badly as possible and leave her with a lot of explaining to do.

On it's own, that wouldn't have stopped her, her friends were more important to her than that, but even without massive alicorn powers and the advantages of a hundred loops of study, neither base-line Twilight Sparkle or her alter ego was a push over. She could salvage this the smart way, without simply throwing power at it. It was a close thing though, she'd had no intention of making things harder for her friends, and she felt responsible.

* * *

AN:

I'm not sure precisely when it took place, but this has definitely gone past 200 loops by now. Which is not bad, I think...  
20.5 is a 40K loop, obviously. (Fluttershy actually raised Leman Russ twice, but the Loop where she raises him as a little colt called Lemon Rush on Equestria looks like being on back-burner status.)  
20.7, the song is from The Road to El Dorado. One of FoxofWar's old pony pictures gave me the idea to use the song, though I did it in a different way to how he did.  
20.11 is Applejack as Toph from Avatar: the last Airbender.  
And 20.12 is a Jewellery Scouts loop - basically the local variant of Sailor Moon...


	21. Chapter 21

Fan Art / Fan Fiction / Humor

21.1 (more Turning the Tables, by Stainless Steel Fox)

* * *

"Is this some sort of joke?" Blueblood's perfectly polished tones came from the gazebo where Applejack had held the tasting. "You intend to offer Princess Celestia this... this carnival stall junk food?"

"Now don't you take that tone with me, mister hoity toity hooves! This is made from Sweet Apple Acres finest apples, and every-pony in the Apple family contributed their best recipes to this spread."

"You intend to offer Her Royal Highness Princess Celestia common apples?" Blueblood looked down his muzzle at her. "The Princess only partakes of the finest cuisine, oranges from Manedarin, sweet cactus from Saddle Arabia, crisped Neighponese seaweed with the finest rose honey crystals from the Neighderlands. All of it is prepared by the finest chefs. As the ruler of Equestria she deserves no less."

Applejack scratched the back of her head with a hoof. "That's as may be, but I figure after all that fancy food, she might like to try some plain old apples, just for a change. And when it comes to making 'em into cakes and pies, I back our family against any-pony in Equestria... or all those other places, matter of fact. We even got some-pony from Canterlot to taste 'em already, and she reckoned they were just fine! Ain't that right, Codex?"

Blueblood followed Applejack's gaze, and caught sight of Twilight's disguised form. "And _what_ are you?"

Twilight pushed down her first reaction, which would have seen him turned into the first ever royal artichoke, and tried to mediate. "I'm Codex, the new town librarian, and I did live in Canterlot before I moved here. I think you're being far too hard on Applejack and her family, I loved everything I tried."

She noted the lack of crumbs or anything else around him. "It may not be as fancily presented as you're used to, but it's really good, and it's for the whole of Ponyville. You should try it at least."

"And hiding in a library for your entire life has made you an expert on organising a Royal visit how?" Blueblood sneered. "I don't need to try these pitiful pastries! Just as I don't need your advice to decide that the catering for the Summer Sun Celebration is not done!"

He levitated his checklist and made a big cross against the first bullet point, and with that he turned on his hooves and trotted towards the gate. "I will have to get the Mayor to order proper food from a Canterlot bakery, one that serves the Palace, not some amateur farm-pony..."

Applejack was fuming, and a couple of other members of her family seemed about ready to chase him down, guards or no guards, and were being held back by Big Macintosh. "Why that stuck-up no-account...!"

"I can fix it." Twilight said, interrupting her before she could "A simple copy correction spell and it'll be a tick. I can even delay it a couple of hours so he won't notice."

"You can do that?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Sure, it's not enchanted legal parchment, just plain old paper. It's a standard spell for any-pony who has to manage paper-work." As a librarian would, or a student of magic. After all, quills blotted occasionally.

Applejack thought about it, then sighed, hanging her head. "Nope! It's tempting, but I ain't going to cheat like that. Besides, what if he's right?"

Twilight snorted. "Princess Celestia wouldn't think that way for a second. Even if it wasn't up to her usual standards, she'd still accept and appreciate that it was an honest effort, and trust me, those things are as good as anything you'd get in a fancy Canterlot bakery!"

She noticed Applejack looking at her curiously and reviewed her last few sentences. Oh, horse-apples!

"How'd you know all that about the Princess?"

The only thing to do was roll with it. "Uh... well every-pony in Canterlot knows how the Princess acts. She is kind of a big deal, after all. Palace gossip even reaches us librarians. I also know all about 'Prince' Blueblood, and trust me, that was exactly how _he_ normally acts."

Applejack seemed to accept that. "Is there anything else we can do, any way we can appeal?"

Twilight knew exactly what the responsibilities of a Royal overseer were, and that Blueblood had overstepped his authority, but base-line Twilight wouldn't. However, she'd spotted a book that could help when she'd been organising the library. She'd read cover to cover several times in previous loops . "I don't know, but I think I saw a book in the library that could be useful. Can you keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't do any more damage while I get it?"

"I'll do my best!" Applejack headed off.

Twilight made her own way back to the library and just outside it almost ran into Rarity again. Twilight had been looking where she was going, but the white unicorn wasn't seeing anything, mostly due to the tears streaming down her face. "Whoa there! What's wrong?"

Twilight could guess, and Rarity quickly confirmed it, between sobs. "Oh Codex, it was... terrible! Prince Blueblood... himself was sent here to oversee the preparations... for the Summer Sun Celebrations. I was in charge of the... decorations, and when he appeared it was like... a dream come true. Then it turned into a nightmare!"

"He immediately started going on about how insulting it was to offer to host the Princess in a 'mean little packing crate of a hall like this!'. I did my best to impress him, explain my vision, and how much effort every-pony had put into getting them ready, but he called my materials, my designs... tacky and cheap! He said I was a know-nothing draper with delusions of adequacy!"

This brought on a fresh wave of crying. "I thought he was my handsome prince, come to take me away, but instead he was..."

"A royal pain?" Twilight asked, hugging her and manifesting a tissue to dry her tears and let her blow her nose.

"Yes!" The hug or the sympathy had let her calm down a bit.

Inwardly Twilight was a little surprised, Blueblood must be really annoyed, and taking it out on every-pony, as this went beyond even his native talent for jerk-hood. Artichoke-hood was looking better and better for him. Of course, he probably believed the stuff about Celestia, she was one of the few beings he looked up to, and put on a pedestal, and he projected his own attitudes onto her, but magnified...

She suddenly had a horrid moment when she realised that that description could have applied to some-pony else. Her base-line self had been exactly that way about studying, for Celestia's sake she'd just used the fact as part of her plan! The concept that she could ever have anything in common with Blueblood was immediately captured, imprisoned, banished to the moon and then imprisoned again for good measure. Fortunately Rarity had been to busy leaning on her shoulder to notice her moment of introspection.

"I'm sorry, I could have told you if I'd known." Twilight sighed. "Even I know that Prince Blueblood is a jerk, a stuck up prig with all the charm and social grace of the back end of a buffalo. I came back to the library to find a book on the job he's supposed to be doing, hopefully to spike his little white flying chariot."

Rarity drew herself up and set her most determined expression. "Then let us both look. Together maybe we can deal with this poisonous princeling!"

The search didn't take long, and in moments they were trotting back out, Twilight holding the book up in front of her and reading while she trotted. She already knew what needed doing and who was doing it, but her in-loop self wouldn't. "Okay, catering, decorations... clear sky? Who would be doing that?"

Rarity smirked. "There's only one pony that springs to mind, no make that does a loop de loop. Rainbow Dash, she's the senior weather pony for Ponyville."

"Well he doesn't seem to be doing much so far..." Twilight looked up at the cloud filled sky.

"She." Rarity corrected with a giggle, some of her good humour restored. "She's probably practicing her stunt routines or something, I hear the Wonderbolts are making a special visit from Canterlot for the Celebration, and every-pony knows she wants to be one."

They passed a Wonderbolts poster, and Twilight replied, "Well, she's got to be warned about Blueblood, he'll probably take one look at the sky and cross it off as undone. Hmm..."

Seeing a blue and rainbow blur out of the corner of her eye, she called out in a loud voice. "Why Spitfire! You're here a day early? Maybe I could get an autograph..."

She took a step to one side and materialised a purple net of energy standing on end to intercept the blue streak that arrived before she finished her sentence. It shifted underneath her and lowered her to the ground.

"Hey, thanks for the save! I heard Spitfire was here and I might have got a little overenthusiastic getting here... So where is she?" Rainbow Dash was eagerly looking around for her idol.

Twilight gave an embarrassed smile. "I'm afraid I was making that up. I'm Codex, the new librarian. And you would be Rainbow Dash?"

"The one and only!" The blue pegasus preened, then gave a sigh, "So you were just pranking me? Aw, nuts! Heh, well, you got me good. I didn't figure librarians went in for pranks."

"You'd be surprised, but that wasn't why I was doing it." After all this whole thing was a prank, though it was starting to turn distinctly sour. Twilight held up the book. "The Royal Overseer for the Summer Sun Celebration is here already, a Prince Blueblood, and if he sees you haven't cleared the clouds... you are the one supposed to be doing that, right?"

"Yep, but that ain't a problem. I can get a sky clear in ten seconds flat!" Rainbow Dash looked thoughtful for a moment. "Though come to think of it, I may have met the guy. White unicorn, fancy jacket, expression like some-pony smacked the back side of a buffalo?"

That got both of the other ponies chuckling. Rarity exclaimed. "Oh my, yes, that describes him perfectly!"

"I may have kinda run into him, and knocked him into a mud puddle." Dash admitted. "I said I was sorry, even cleaned him off with a rain-cloud and a personal hurricane, but he just got those two guards of his to run me off. Not that I couldn't have taken 'em, but it wasn't worth the effort."

Twilight face-hooved, though the mental image of Blueblood with a hurricane hair-do was pretty satisfying. "I think we can safely say he's going to mark that task down as incomplete, that leaves only the music."

"Heh, Fluttershy is all over that, she's training up a choir of birds. She's really good with animals, but really shy around other ponies..." Rainbow's face suddenly fell. "Oh no, bozo Bluenose and his goon squad are heading right for her! We gotta stop him!"

"Lead the way, Applejack is trying to slow him down..." Twilight was still managing to leaf through the book, even at a trot.

"The pony from Sweet Apple Acres? Sure I saw her, but Blueblood's just ignoring her."

As Rainbow led them out towards the outskirts of Ponyville and Futtershy's cottage, they could hear Blueblood. "... this is a joke! How dare you attempt to pretend that a lot of twittering birds is a fanfare worthy of a princess! In Canterlot, only the finest musicians are even allowed to try for the privilege of playing for her!"

"Hey! You just simmer on down before I make you! You ain't got no cause to be hollerin' at Fluttershy like that! I told you, this ain't Canterlot, and you ain't got no right to treat any-pony like dirt either way!"

"I am Prince Blueblood, and I can... Aghh! Get them off! Get them off!"

They ran onto the scene to see Fluttershy's choir of birds dive bombing Blueblood, while Applejack stood between him and the cowering yellow pegasus. His guards were looking on, not jumping in to help on either side. Blueblood's hair was still in the poofy shape of Rainbow's patented Rain Blow-dry technique.

"Don't let them get their droppings on me! My immaculate mane, my coat!"

He staggered several steps back, and the birds flew away to circle Fluttershy protectively. His telekinesis scooped up several rocks and flung them at the birds. "Shoo! Shoo! Go away you horrid things!"

The birds scattered, the poorly aimed rocks missing them, but the action finally seemed to spark Fluttershy into action. She flew up into the air and shielded the scattering birds with her wings and body. "How dare you! How _dare_ you!"

She swept down like an avenging angel (bunny) and ended up hovering with her face a few inches from his. "Throwing stones at poor innocent birds! You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"Aaaahh!" Blueblood scrambled back further to avoid the fearsome gaze of the greater enraged Fluttershy. "Guards! Help! Get me away from this mad mare!"

The two guards swooped in and scooped him up with a fore-leg under each shoulder, carrying him away towards Ponyville.

"Whooeee! That was pretty impressive!" Applejack exclaimed, coming up alongside Fluttershy who was still breathing heavily.

"Yeah! Way to go Fluttershy! You had that puffed-up prince by the eyebrows!" Rainbow Dash cheered.

Rarity beamed. "The way you routed that ridiculous ruffian was a joy to watch! "

The yellow mare seemed to finally realise where she was and that she was surrounded by ponies and shrunk in on herself a little bit.

"Every-pony, I think we should give her some space." Twilight said quietly but firmly. "I know you're probably her friends, but I don't think she wants to be crowded right now."

"Heh, you might be right, Fluttershy ain't the best of ponies for being the cettre of attention." Rainbow Dash admitted. "C'mon Applejack, Rarity was it, we can let her catch her breath for a bit."

"Um... Fluttershy? Maybe you should go and check your birds are okay?" Twilight suggested.

The yellow pegasus nodded, with a faint echo of what might have been a grateful smile and flew off to collect her scattered birds.

Applejack turned to Twilight. "I'm sorry Codex, I did my best to stall him, but he's as stubborn as a stump."

"We all saw you did all you could." Twilight smiled, adjusting her pince-nez glasses with a flick of telekinesis. "Fortunately, I managed to find this."

She held up the book on high so every-pony could see it. "Prince Blueblood has been exceeding his authority in half a dozen ways, as well as making a complete ass of himself. With this I can call him on it. He's probably at the Mayor's office right now, ranting and raving, doing his best to make sure Ponyville doesn't get to host the Summer Sun Celebration. What say we trot on over there and spike his little white flying chariot?"

"Sure as sugar!" "Yeah!" "Let us be off!" "um..."

Twilight turned to see Fluttershy hovering some way back, looking at her. "I'd like to come too, if you don't mind..."

Twilight smiled her most genuine smile. "We're glad to have you along. I'm Codex, the new librarian... Don't worry, I know, you're Fluttershy. Dash told me you were more comfortable around animals than ponies?"

She started leading the group back towards Ponyville as Fluttershy gave a nervous nod. "I sort of know where you're coming from, it wasn't so long ago I felt more comfortable around books than ponies. I guess I just needed to meet the right ones..."

She looked around at the others, and they gave encouraging grins or smiles back. "I know I'm among friends here, and I think you can be too. You don't have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable, but I'm sure every-pony is glad to have you with us."

"Ohh! Can I come too? What is this, a parade? A party? A party-rade... that sounds like a cool drink to serve at at party parade!" Pinkie had arrived from... somewhere.

"We're going to see the mayor and deal with Prince Blueblood and his guards."

"So that's the new pony I saw in the town square today! I knew he was new because I didn't recognise him and I know every-pony in Ponyville, so I went 'GASP' and thought since he was new he wouldn't have any friends, except those two guards and they looked kinda grumpy, and that made me sad so I was going to throw a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party for him and you and him so that you'd both make lots of new friends!"

She stopped for breath. "Great, so what are we going to play when we deal, Canasta, Go Fish, Strip Poker?... I really should put on some clothes if we're going to play Strip Poker..."

"Uh, sugar-cube, that ain't what Codex there meant. Blueblood is trying to stop Ponyville hosting the Summer Sun Celebration, and we're going to stop him stopping it."

"No Summer Sun Celebration? But it's going to be the biggest, bestest party in Ponyville ever!" There was suddenly a fire in Pinkie's eyes. "No-pony stops the Summer Sun Celebration!"

Twilight held up the book. "He won't, and we're going to stop him with this!"

They reached the town hall to find the entrance guarded by the two Royal Guard pegasi. As the group approached, their wings swept out to cross the entrance with a metallic shing.

"I'm sorry, but no-pony is allowed in there. Prince Blueblood is meeting privately with the mayor." the left hand one stated.

"I bet he is!" Rainbow Dash growled, revving up to charge at them.

"Dash, I've got this!" Twilight called out as Applejack caught the pegasus's multi-coloured tail. She faced the two guards and glowered at them over the rims of her glasses, brows furrowed. "You will put those wings down or I will pluck them bare!"

"Are you... threatening us ma'am?" The guard who'd previously spoken asked, slightly incredulous.

He was clearly the senior of the two, so Twilight focussed on him. "No, I'm ordering you to cease your illegal actions, and using hyperbole to make sure you're actually listening to me."

"Illegal?"

Twilight gave a theatrical sigh. "Are the two of you real Royal Guards, or just a pair of thugs Blueblood stuffed in armour to make himself look important? Well, sergeant?"

She'd watched Shining Armour do his command voice often enough, and she was a very good student. For that matter, she'd helped him study for his officer's exam more than once, and knew the material at least as well as he did.

The pair stiffened up at the question, and came to attention. "Royal Guards, Royal Protection Detail!"

"Very well. Has Princess Celestia issued an order suspending civil writ in Ponyville?"

"No ma'am!"

"Did she give Prince Blueblood plenipotentiary or ambassadorial powers, anything beyond the task of Royal Overseer for the Summer Sun Celebration?"

"No ma'am!"

"Has the mayor granted you civil police powers within Ponyville?"

"No, ma'am?" The more talkative guard was now looking puzzled, while the younger's eyes suddenly widened in realisation, though he stayed still otherwise.

Twilight noted it though. "I'm glad to see at least one of you didn't sleep through basic training. Without explicit extension of your authority, your job is just to protect the Prince from physical harm or verbal abuse. You have no right to block off any-pony from access to a public building, let alone a civil servant going about her duties.

"At most you could stand outside the Mayor's office and request that we not enter until the meeting is finished, and courtesy would require us to comply but that does not have the force of law, or allow you to use coercion. And as we have information bearing directly on Prince Blueblood's conduct of his position, it is our civil duty to lay it before the mayor before her meeting with Blueblood concludes."

She used the stare over the glasses move again. "Now. Drop! Those! Wings!"

The pegasi's wings snapped back to their sides.

The other ponies were staring at her in amazement.

"Wow! You really are Codex the Librarian!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Goodness darling, I hadn't realised you had such a commanding presence."

Twilight blushed. "I read the Royal Guard Field Officers manual? Also the Combined Forces guide, the Compendium of Military Law, a lot of legal and history books..."

Plus several hundred loops of real life experience where she'd been in life or death command positions more times than she could count.

Twilight gave the two guards a pleasant smile. "Thank you gentlemen. I can see why you might think some of the ponies here might want to slap him silly. You are of course welcome to accompany us to see that we do not offer Blueblood any harm, which is within your remit. To be honest, In fact, in as much as it does not interfere with your primary duty, I request and require your assistance in delivering this information and material witnesses to the mayor."

"This is my right as an employee and therefore civil servant of the Township of Ponyville, as covered under section 34a, paragraphs 12 and 13 of the fifth revision of the Compendium of Military Law relating to civilian authority over the military. While Blueblood as Royal Overseer has that authority too, his is administrative, deriving from his specific duties, whereas mine is jurisdictional, deriving from my position here in Ponyville, and has primacy. In short, in this context, even I outrank him, and it covers you if he gives you any hassle over it."

"Ma'am?" The sergeant spoke up.

Twilight looked back at him. Having established her authority, she had no need or intention of beating them over the head with it. "By all means call me Codex, and you both are?"

"Sergeant Silverwing, ma'... Codex." "Corporal Airheart."

Celeestia's blessing might make them look alike, but the higher, alto voice of the corporal suggested there was a girl under the helmet. "Very good, you wanted to say something, sergeant?"

"An apology, and a warning. I think we both assumed Prince Blueblood had the authority of the Crown behind him. He's a powerful noble, and a bad enemy to make."

Twilight was genuinely touched, but then, despite what she'd said earlier, a ponies for a Royal Protection Detail wasn't exactly picked out of a hat. "Thank you, Sergeant Silverwing. I'm from Canterlot myself, and I'm aware that his position gives him considerable extra-legal power. However, we're doing this strictly within the law and by the book... and I've read lots of books. The second Diet of Canterlot requires nobles, and even the Royal family to act within the bounds of the common law."

"Uh... How'd a weight loss plan do that?" Applejack asked.

"This Diet was a constitutional meeting, headed by the Princess, several centuries ago. Equestria was in transit from a feudal model to a more imperial one, with a bureaucracy taking over administrative and executive duties from the old noble families. Some of them saw it coming and managed to gain control of the ministries, and expanding them to provide jobs for their families and hangers-on.

"The bureaucracy was adding a lot of dead weight, you had departments which existed only on paper and in the accounts of the Exchequer, and Department heads who never actually set hoof inside their offices. Celestia used the Diet to push through reforms to make it more merit based, and root out the special privileges of the nobility that had allowed it to happen. To make it solid, she bound the Royal family to abide by the accords, and forced the lesser nobles to follow suit or be shamed."

Pinkie summed up. "So the government was overweight, and the Princess put it on a Diet?"

"More or less..." Twilight giggled. "You were right Applejack, it was a weight loss plan."

She turned more serious. "As for making him a personal enemy... I'll deal with it as it comes."

She turned to the other ponies. "You've all done your bit to make sure that there's a Summer Sun Celebration tomorrow, now it's my turn."

* * *

Blueblood was in full flow. He'd had more than enough of this town, and every-pony in it. He'd been dragged away from his preparations for a private and exclusive party he'd been planning in Canterlot to deal with the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. He'd done it last year in Canterlot, and the exquisite, and fabulously expensive soiree he'd put together had netted him a huge amount of social capital. The fact that it had come out of the city budget rather than his personal accounts had been an added bonus.

However, just because he'd done it once, he didn't think he'd be asked to do it again, and certainly not in a trivial little hamlet like Ponyville. After all, who of any status or worth in society was there here to impress? Meanwhile, every moment he was away from Canterlot, some other pony was poaching his guests, and ruining the carefully planned follow-up to last year that would secure his position as top pony in the social, as well as the noble hierarchy of Equestria.

The fact that the ponies here clearly didn't understand the honour that had been bestowed on them by the personal presence of a princess, and for that matter his own presence, just put the exquisitely engraved sterling silver lid on it (he'd never use anything so common as tin, not even in metaphors). The impertinence of that common farm-pony, that brutish pegasus shoving him into the mud, then soaking him and ruining his perfect mane-styling, and that unctuous unicorn making cow-eyes at him, some sort of seamstress who seemed to think her sense of taste would impress a princess.

Then he'd been attacked by a crowd of squawking monstrosities and that rabid pegasus. What sort of idiot thought that a bunch of birds was a suitable fanfare for a pony who raised the sun? Well, at least he would have the considerable pleasure of making sure they never got to inflict their indignities on Princess Celestia, and get some proper catering and party planning in from Canterlot. Despite the lateness of the day, he didn't anticipate much problem. Getting to serve the princess would be a considerable feather in their chapeaus, and they'd undoubtedly remember the pony who'd given them the chance in the future.

His scheming... planning didn't prevent him instructing the mayor about his requirements. "... and I expect you to get a proper orchestra, not some bunch of birds and a lunatic pegasus!"

"Everything was agreed well in advance, your highness. We have neither the time nor the money to change things now." The mayor's voice was steady, but strained.

"I am the Royal Overseer for this event and you will do as I say! I have been embarrassed, belittled, insulted and assaulted ever since I arrived in your squalid little hamlet..."

Twilight knocked on the door with a hoof. The mayor's voice immediately cut across Blueblood's rant. "Come in!"

Twilight entered, and the others trooped in after her. Blueblood immediately freaked. He'd restored his original immaculate appearance, but he hadn't recovered his aplomb.

"Sergeant! I told you I was not to be disturbed under any circumstances! Get those peasants out of here and consider yourself on report!"

Sergeant Silverwing gave a a painfully text book salute and stared a hoof above and to the right of Blueblood's ear.. "Yes, your highness. Sorry, your highness, but we're not allowed to impede a civil servant in the course of her duties. Miss Codex has information that had to be brought to the mayor immediately. In fact she commandeered our services, under section 34a..."

"I don't care! She's one of the ringleaders of this plan to humiliate me, they all are! They're nothing but a bunch of ringleaders!"

Twilight decided it was time to interject. "I doubt we could do a better job than you've done of humiliating yourself and bringing disgrace on the good name of the Royal family! Did you even bother to find out what your duties were before you came here, or did you just assume you could do whatever you wanted, as seems to be the case in Canterlot?"

"How dare you speak to me like that! Do you know who I am?" The Prince stomped a hoof.

"I think every-pony between here and Canterlot knows who you are, the way you've been bellowing about it. However, no matter how big a wheel you are in Canterlot, your only role here is as the Royal Overseer for the Summer Sun Celebration, and that authority, and it's limitations are set out here."

She placed the copy of 'The Summer Sun Celebration – Duties and Responsibilities' on the Mayors desk.

"Chapter 2, paragraphs 12 through 22. The plan for the proposed Summer Sun Celebration is the responsibility of the mayor or other head of local government, to allow them to properly reflect the culture and capabilities of their locality. It is then approved by the Department of Culture and Recreation, and the Princess or her equerry on her behalf. Executive authority also rests with the local government."

Mayor Mare gave her a grateful smile. "That's what I've been trying to tell him. I received the certifications over a month ago. I put Ponyville's very best ponies to arranging things."

The pones behind her preened, well Rarity and Rainbow Dash did.

"I was Royal Overseer and ran the Summer Sun Celebration last year in Canterlot, so don't tell me I can't do the same here!"

"In that case, Princess Celestia had probably delegated executive authority as well as the task of Royal Overseer to you. It makes sense, as she's the Grand Duchess of Canterlot and therefore the leader of the city council, but was probably far to busy to do the job herself."

Twilight paused and adjusted her glasses, letting that sink in. Blueblood hadn't bothered with the details of the paperwork, he had secretaries to deal with such things, so he couldn't say she was wrong. There had been a lot of paperwork too.

"The rules as written don't give you the authority to change things, your role is purely administrative, to ensure that the plans are going ahead as required, and offer assistance if there has been some last minute slip-up. Not to try and change the agreed arrangements because they don't fit your personal tastes. The only reason you could cancel the Celebration would be in the case of gross failure to complete one of the tasks."

Blueblood sneered nastily and glanced out of the window. "Then I have you! Clearing the sky was one of the tasks, and it's still full of clouds..."

Twilight gave Rainbow Dash a nod, and the pegasus made a hasty exit.

"... so even if you can use some archaic legalisms that should have been edited out of the law books ages ago to weasel around your failure to provide a proper Summer Sun Celebration, you still can't get away from your failure to provide a clear sky as required!"

Twilight saw Rainbow Dash appear at the window with a salute and a wide grin, and smirked. "Who says we haven't provided a clear sky?"

She pointed at the window and Blueblood looked over at it, then did a double take and rushed over to look out at the clear blue sky. "But... that's impossible!"

Rainbow Dash slipped back into the Mayor's office, panting slightly and stage whispered. "Ten seconds flat, I don't let my friends, or Ponyville, down."

"Oh! Oh!" Pinkie was practically bouncing up and down with excitement. "I guess that means... We can't have archaic and edit!"

There were groans and chuckles all round, except for Blueblood who drew breath to start another rant, until Twilight decided to stare at him over her glasses. Under that withering gaze, he seemed to deflate.

"In the process of grossly overstepping your authority, you have... what was your phrase? 'Embarrassed, belittled, insulted and assaulted' the citizens of Ponyville for not acting as if your word was law. You treated Applejack like a serf, grossly insulted her entire family, acted like a complete boor to Rarity, had the nerve to send your guards after Rainbow Dash after she did her best to make up for crashing into you, and even verbally attacked Fluttershy! Her birds only swooped on you because you were attacking her, and it was quite clear they did that on their own. You are a poor excuse for a member of the nobility, let alone a relative of Princess Celestia's! And I have no doubt that she will be most displeased with your actions here today!"

That seemed to finally hit home. He took a few steps back, head and ears down, and gave a sigh. "It's not like I wanted this job in the first place. I have my own party to plan in Canterlot. It was going to be the crown of the social season, the soiree that would affirm my position as the premier socialite in Canterlot. But when that boorish bookworm Twilight Sparkle had a conniption fit and ran away, who do you think was drafted in to fix her mess?"

Twilight had been feeling good, even righteous over bringing Blueblood to book, in several senses of the word, but this suddenly hit her right in the gut. It seemed her friends weren't the only ones hit by the unintended consequences of her scheme. She was feeling sorry for Blueblood of all ponies! Yes, he was a stuck-up narcissistic prat, but he was still a pony, with hopes and dreams of his own.

Some of his previous fire had returned. "I may not have wanted it, but since I was stuck with it, I was going to make sure this party was fit for a Princess! She deserves nothing less than the best, the same excellence she'd get in Canterlot! But what's the use, I'm stuck with all... this!"

He tapped the checklist with it's crosses in a disgusted manner.

Twilight made a decision. He wasn't stupid, whatever his other shortcomings. He was simply ignorant, and ignorance could be cured, by teaching.

"If you truly believe that, then maybe you should consider this point. Princess Celestia chose Ponyville as the venue where she'd raise the sun, not Canterlot. If she'd wanted a Canterlot experience, wouldn't she just have stayed there? If you truly want to do what's best for the princess, maybe we can salvage this. If you'll just give these ponies a chance to prove that what they've put together is the best that _Ponyville_ has to offer, maybe you'll see that this is what the Princess wanted after all."

She turned to the other five.

"I know this is a lot to ask, but will you give _him_ a second chance? If you want we can make an official report of his conduct, see him punished for everything he put you through. But maybe we can do this a better way. I'm sure you all wanted to prove that you did your very best, and there may still be a chance to do exactly that. However, it's up to you, one nay kills it."

Applejack shrugged. "Shoot, he were as ornery as a one eyed rattlesnake, but I figure the talking to you just gave him makes up for that. I only ever wanted to do this right and proper. I'm in."

"He was absolutely rotten to me." Rarity said with a superior expression that Blueblood himself would have envied. Then she softened. "However, I could understand if he had a certain artistic vision which my decorations didn't match. I would be interested to hear just what a Canterlot pony would do differently, rather than telling me what I'd done was wrong. "

"Heh, it isn't any feather off my wings." Rainbow Dash said, then looked over at the yellow pegasus. "But the way he went after Fluttershy, I figure he should get some come back for that. But if Fluttershy forgives him..."

Fluttershy spoke quietly. "I... I don't mind as long as my birds get to sing at the Celebration. They've worked so hard, and they're looking forward to performing for the Princess."

Twilight Sparkle looked over towards the mayor. "Madam mayor?"

"Very well." The gray maned pony nodded.

Twilight turned back to face Blueblood. "So, are you willing to give these ponies a chance?"

Pinkie chipped in. "Don't mess with her, she has mysterious librarian powers!"

"I don't have much of a choice." Blueblood just hoofed over the checklist with a defeated sigh, and Twilight's horn glowed as she erased the crosses on it. As they came down into the main hall where the celebration was to be held, Rainbow Dash was drawn into a quiet conversation with Applejack and Twilight Sparkle, and went straight out the door before dusting off and heading away towards Canterlot at improbable speeds.

Prince Blueblood noted it. "Where has she gone anyway?"

"Oh, just getting something from Canterlot for Applejack." Twilight said.

"That's a two hour flight even by chariot!" Blueblood exclaimed, and the two pegasus guards, who'd actually flown it looked even more surprised.

Applejack chuckled. "Not for Rainbow Dash when she gets a bee in her bonnet! She ain't called Dash for nothing!"

"I begin to see how she cleared the sky so quickly..." He actually went to the doorway and outside to confirm what he'd seen from the window, and view the receding polychromatic contrail. As he came back in, his horn glowed as he put quill to parchment, but this time, he placed a big tick in the tick box for clear sky.

Rarity took center stage. "And now Prince Blueblood, let me explain why I made these choices, and then you can tell me what you would have done differently."

She started moving around. "The flowers on the balconies are common types grown around Ponyville, to symbolise the agriculture of the town, and the part the Princess plays by bringing forth the sun to help them grow. The hangings show the transition from night to day, and the ribbons are pure silk, and once again a graduated pattern for deep blues to bright orange to represent the sun-rise."

"Hmm..." This time, Blueblood actually listened. It helped that the other unicorn was no longer gushing over him like some over-eager debutante at a Canterlot ball. "I see... but the hangings are plain cotton. Why not silk?"

"Cost, I'm afraid the budget I was given by the mayor only went so far. But I created every stitch of them myself. I worked for days, crafting and reworking until I believed they were the best I could accomplish."

"But you had the money for gems... though not many, I'll admit." He pointed a hoof to the balconies

"From my own private stock." Rarity replied. "I could have added more, but they would have made it look rather too gaudy, whereas I was going for elegant simplicity. The gems I have used are carefully positioned to illuminate and halo the Princess when the sun rises. This is her celebration, after all. It was something of a wrench to use so many of my finest gems, but when one has a vision, one must sometimes make sacrifices to bring it to life, no?"

Blueblood moved forward, really examining the place for the first time. Fashion and art was an acceptable pastime, nay, a necessity in the fashion conscious society of Canterlot. "I understand what you're trying to do, but have you considered..."

He started making suggestions, and Rarity listened. The pair soon got into a discussion of aesthetics, Blueblood's ideas sparking off Rarity's and vice-versa. Some changes were discarded, but others eagerly taken on board by the unicorn mare. Blueblood found he was actually enjoying himself, though when he found out just what they had to work with, blank shock was closer to the mark.

Finally the agreed changes were all made, and the place looked wonderful. He levitated the checklist again. He put on a stern face. "I have considered the quality of the decorations, and the fineness of the materials, and I have no choice but to... give it my unashamed seal of approval."

He smirked at the way Rarity's expression had shifted as he'd given his verdict. "Any-pony can make something spectacular with superior materials, managing to accomplish so much with so little... that is the mark of a true artist."

Fortunately, Twilight caught the unicorn mare as she fainted in relief. Once she recovered, they returned to Fluttershy's cottage, Pinkie bouncing along happily and singing, as the Prince traveling at a more sedate pace.

"Fluttershy, oh me oh my, mistress of creatures.

Cares for all, both big and small, cute and fluffy!

And that dear Prince is just why, she decided to try,

To provide a wondrous,

show you'll adore.

Clearly splendiferous,

Jaws hit the floor,

As you listen to, her great chorus of,

Birds that sing to the sky!

Make way for Fluttershyyyy!"

Fluttershy dashed on ahead, cheeks blushing as Pinkie extolled her virtues. "Oh... my!"

When they got there, she'd already marshalled her birds, several of whom gave Prince Blueblood a very sharp stare. But Fluttershy calmed them down. "Now, now, I know we didn't get off to the best start, but I want you to sing, sing the best you've ever sung! Show Prince Blueblood just how wonderful I know you are!"

She lead them with a few notes and they joined in. The notes of the Royal fanfare embodied in bird-song, and no bird was going to disappoint Fluttershy by doing any less than their best. The jays sang the A's, the swallows didn't swallow their notes, and the tits hit every high note perfectly. It was a glorious chorus.

At the end there was a silence more impressive than any amount of hoof-stomping or cheers. Twilight finally grinned. "Now tell me you'll find that anywhere in Equestria, even the Royal Canterlot Gardens?"

"I..." Blueblood had a stunned look on his face. "I don't believe it!"

"Like I said, every-pony has pulled out all the stops for this event."

Blueblood ticked the box for music, and Pinkie called out, "Woo hoo! Three down, one to go!"

"And we've saved the best till last!" Applejack exclaimed. As they approached Sweet Apple Acres, a rainbow blur approached it too, heading back from Canterlot. Rainbow Dash skidded to a halt by the party, tapping her saddlebag with a wingtip. "Okay, Codex, I got your special package right here."

"Excellent!" Twilight conducted the Prince past the Apple family members, and into the same gazebo that she'd had her own samples in. After a moment, Applejack came from the direction of the farm, carrying a tray with two plates and two slices of apple pie and a jug and glass of water.

"Codex explained how you ponies in Canterlot are so fussed about watching your weight, so I figured fritters might not be the best thing to serve you. So I figured we'd go with the basics, a slice of my own home made apple pie."

Twilight levitated the plates. "Just for comparison, I had Rainbow Dash go fetch a slice of apple pie from one of Canterlot's most expensive bakeries..." She put down a slender slice that had a red sauce drizzled over it and a small lump of ice-cream, "... to compare with Applejack's." She put down the other, which lacked the adornment.

Blueblood sampled both of them, drinking a sip of water after each. Then he had some more. And some more, until there was nothing left but crumbs on either plate. He had a look of acute indecision on his face.

Applejack saw it and said, "Sugar-cube, I don't know how my cooking holds up against that fancy Canterlot baking. All I know is I made the best durned apple pie I could. I ain't going to serve the princess anything less. So I ain't going to be offended by your honest opinion. At least you tried it."

Blueblood sighed, his eyes half lidded as he licked his lips. "It's not an easy choice. I have to admit that both of them were excellent. The pastry was delightfully flaky and melted in the mouth, and the filling was the perfect mix of sweet and tart. However, taking everything into account, I believe that one was better, though only slightly."

He pointed to the plate which still had traces of sauce.

"Yeehaw!" Applejack hollered, and the Prince flinched. "I'm mighty pleased to hear you say that, your highness, because that was my own home-made pie."

"What?" Prince Blueblood looked surprised. "But I thought that was the Canterlot pie!"

Twilight giggled. "I never said that, I only said we had the two for comparison. "The plain pie was from Canterlot. After all, you couldn't expect all that drizzled sauce to stay put while Rainbow Dash was flying back at full clip."

"I see..." Blueblood gave a frown which was unconvincing, as it tried to turn into a smirk. "You are a devious, devious pony, Miss Codex!"

"You have no idea!" Twilight giggled again as he ticked the last box, and signed the checklist at the bottom.

Twilgiht focused for a moment, and a copy appeared. "A duplicate for your records, Mayor Mare."

"Thank you Codex." She glanced over at the guards. "I suggest you take Prince Blueblood home. I think he's had quite enough excitement for one day."

"Actually..." Twilight was loath to let the change in attitude go to waste. Blueblood had made an honest effort, and it was only fair he should be rewarded. "you said you were planning a party."

That killed the Prince's good mood. "I was, but it's too late now. I suspect by now most of my 'must invite' list have made other arrangements. And it's too close to evening to get anything organised anyway."

"Hmm..." Twilight made a show of thinking. "How was your party going to be different from all those other ones, or the hundreds of others those ponies attended?"

"I was going to host it." Blueblood preened. "Though I'll admit finding something else unique to act as a draw gets hard. I had even considered Sapphire Shores, or one of the Wonderbolts, but even that's been done."

"Have you considered bringing it here?" Twilight asked.

"WHAT!" The response was pretty much universal.

"Guys, think about it. You get to show off all your hard work, not just to the princess but a whole cart full of ponies from Canterlot. It couldn't hurt to have them think well of Ponyville."

"I don't know, Codex, not every-pony is going to be as open minded as you are." Applejack mused.

"It's not the done thing..." Blueblood added.

"That might not be so bad." Twilight responded. "You were saying that you were looking for something new. It's close, pretty much all you have to do is arrange transport, and the Princess herself will be here. After all, you already certified it was good enough for her, you even had a horn in the decorations so they should have no complaints."

"You have a point... Yes, I can see how to pitch it. The princess would be a big draw, and I can play up the difference. Prince Blueblood is a trend-setter, not some-pony who just follows the herd. It would be daring, avant-garde... I like this idea!"

"Uh... that's well and all, but I still don't know if they'll get on alright with us regular ponies."

"I can assure that." Prince Blueblood said with a grin bordering on evil. "No-pony will want to embarrass the princess, or themselves by suggesting that some-thing she approved is not good enough for them. And if they prove intransigent, I'll simply set Codex here on them!"

That had Twilight blushing as her friends laughed. After Blueblood was escorted out, Pinkie bounced up. "You know what this calls for? A party!"

"That's your answer to everything!" Applejack exclaimed.

"That's because it's a good answer!" Pinkie beamed back. "We still have to welcome Codex properly, and I've invited a lot of other ponies to meet her. Mayor Mare, are you coming too?"

"You go on ahead." The mayor gave a tired smile. "I'll look in later."

"Okie Dokie Lokie!" She grabbed Twilight by the hoof. "C'mon, Princess Celestia's going to lower the sun soon, we can watch the twilight sparkle!"

That got Twilight doing a double take, but she just shook her head and let the pink pony lead her away. As Twilight partied with her new friends, she thought back to the earlier party, and then to Spike, her ostensible reason for going. While it had started as just a ploy, realising how much it had meant to Spike had made it more than that.

This whole business with Blueblood had made her reconsider just how she was affecting every-pony with her plan, not just the Princess. She keenly felt his absence at her side, despite the fact that it was only temporary. She also wondered if her letter to him had been clear enough. He was, after all, only a baby dragon, and might not be able to accept being left behind easily, even for a short while.

She quickly came to a decision, and got Rarity off to one side. "Yes, Codex darling?"

"Uh... do you have any blue garnets lying around? I want to send some to a very dear friend in Canterlot, I had to leave without saying goodbye properly and it worries me."

"Of course dear, I have plenty. Take what you need."

"Um... I don't want you to think I'm not accepting them in the generous spirit they were given, but if it's all the same to you, I'd like to find a way to repay you, to earn them. It's because I want to give them to my friend, and getting them without working for them feels like cheating."

Rarity was silent for a moment, and Twilight thought she might have made a huge mistake, but then the white unicorn smiled. "Of course dear, I understand. The value of a gift is the work you put into getting it. If you want to help out, I have several months of receipts and bills I need to organise and file. As a matter of fact, I've been putting it off, as it's something I don't enjoy at all."

Twilight smiled brightly. "That sounds perfect!"

* * *

Spike was deep in his second tub of Rocky Road when he felt a burp coming on. A flash of flame released a scroll, but not one of Celestia's. Several blue garnets, one of his favourite gemstones spilled out as he opened it, but it was the text that held his attention.

"Dear Spike,

I said I'd be in contact as soon as possible. I know gemstones aren't much of a replacement for a hug, but could you consider the other a given? I've managed to settle in, and I'm doing well, but things are so _different_ here. I've been thinking, and I may have been wrong to rush off. I was just too ashamed to face Celestia right then, but I should have at least have stayed to take my lumps in person rather than running away.

Sometimes, having to face a problem head on is the only right thing to do, I learned that while I was here. I will come back and face her after the Summer Sun Celebration. Things are crazy here at the moment, and she's probably far too busy with her own preparations to have time for me right now. Know that just because we're apart, it doesn't mean I don't think of you, and hope we can be back together as soon as possible.

Your friend,

Twilight Sparkle.'

Spike read the message again, then held it to his chest as a great weight seemed to vanish from inside it. Twilight hadn't abandoned him. He hadn't realised Twilight even knew the flame-mail spell, but then who could keep up with everything Twilight was studying? He eagerly started off to go show Princess Celestia the message, she'd want to know about it. Then he came back, scooped up the garnets in his ice cream tub. After all, she had sent them especially for him, and Rocky Road went well with Garnets.

Princess Celestia was indeed pleased to receive the letter, and not just because it told her Twilight was doing well. However, it seemed Spike couldn't target a reply. She performed a series of magical tests of her own and discovered that Twilight hadn't cast the flame-mail spell perfectly after all. It seemed she hadn't fully taken into account the heft of the garnets, and the wobble it had imparted to the virtual catenary of the letter had wiped out any trace of a return path. There was no way to back track it and find out where in Equestria she was.

"Spike, I think you should take this letter to Shining Armour too. He and his parents must be worried about Twilight too."

It was getting towards evening, when she'd have to raise the moon. For a thousand years, her sister's face stared down at her in reproach at her not having saved her from the darkness that had consumed her. For a moment she considered altering it's course to disrupt the conjunction, but that would cause a dreadful magical backlash that could cause at least as much chaos as her sister's return. Besides, this conjunction would not be possible for another 1000 years, and to leave her sister up there for that long...

'Forgive me, my subjects...' Celestia thought. '… I have to trust in Shining Armour and that Twilight will find a way to save you all. I can only play my part to help them."  


* * *

  
21.2 (Gym Quirk)

Twilight gazed out through the bars of the enclosure as she ran through her start-of-loop checklist.

_Not the baseline start point...pretty sure this isn't Equestria...standard equiform body type...I appear to be my default self...Wait. What's that squeaking noise?_

She looked behind her to see Pinkie Pie trotting along in a giant exercise wheel.

Or was it that she and Pinkie were in miniature and the wheel and the...cage?...surrounding them was normal sized? That big water bottle suspended on one side of the enclosure seemed to support the latter theory.

Beyond the bars, on the surface (counter?) nearby was an enormous bundle of paper in an equally enormous clipboard. She could just make out the stationary header on the top page: "ACME Labs".

As the loop-specific memories/background finally arrived, Pinkie chirped, "Gee Twi...What do you want to do tonight?"

_Just run with it_ , she decided with a mental shrug. "The same thing we do every night, Pinkie...Try to take over the world!"

_They're Pinkie and the Brain_  
_Yes, Pinkie and the Brain_  
_One is a genius_  
_The other's insane_  
_They're ponies in a cage_  
_The unicorn's a mage_  
_They're dinky_  
_They're Pinkie and the Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain..._

"Narf!" added Pinkie for no particular reason.

* * *

21.3

"Right, Fillies and gentlecolts," Twilight said, then paused. "Er, I mean, girls and Spike. Anyway." The mare tapped her board with a swagger stick. "We face a terrifying reality."

Her wings flapped once for emphasis. "I am a pegasus, with the talent of magic, and my Element of Magic is a necklace here."

"Yeah, we noticed," Dash said.

"Furthermore," Twilight continued, ignoring her, "Applejack is a unicorn." Another pause. "And I have to say, those giant apples you've been making so far this loop are delicious. Something to follow up on, if you can still pull it off."

"Thanks," the currently-a-unicorn said cheerfully.

"Both Dash and Rarity are earth ponies. And I don't know how this version of you got her cutie mark-"

Dash cut in again. "I run kinda like that Sonic guy. I can run across water, which makes these rainbow-gemmed sprays of water. Kinda looks neat."

"Think you can break the sound barrier?" Twilight asked, then shook her head. "Sorry, stupid question, of course you can. We're getting off topic."

"There's a topic?" Spike asked, his arm around Rarity. "We're just saying stuff we already know!"

"I am aware of that." Twilight tapped her swagger stick again. "But I want to make my conclusions totally clear. Now, Fluttershy is the only one of us who has kept her base-form aside from Spike. And, as far as my experiences have shown, we Elements tend to be a two-two-two mix of the three baseline pony types. At _first_."

"Yeah, we know Pinkie's a unicorn," Spike pointed out. "We all met her so far this Loop."

"And she's not Awake," Twilight pointed out. "Now, since she's not Awake, and _her_ Element is the crown, for… unknown reasons…" she trailed off.

"Wait," Applejack said slowly. "Didn't y'all once say that, if the one with the tiara for an Element wasn't Awake…"

"Exactly." Twilight pressed a button, and the projector showed an image of Princess Pinkie Pie. Then it changed to show a long list of titles.

"This was obtained from the Hub Loop," Twilight said, pointing at the top. "These two are the events with Nightmare Moon – which we've already handled, of course. The remaining sixty-three episodes are the significant events to happen before and leading up to P-day."

"Girls," Twilight finished, "this is the countdown to our breakdown. May Celestia help us all."

* * *

Author's Note:

Why yes, there IS quite a lot of Turning the Tables backlog to get through right now...


	22. Chapter 22

22.1

"Trixie," Twilight said, blocking two incoming crossbow bolts, "what the hay did you _do?_"

"Trixie is not sure," the blue unicorn replied, curving a stun bolt over their barricade. "She was just engaging in the usual early-loop run of sell-out performances to build spending money, and then suddenly a hit squad."

"There must be more to it than that."

"Well, don't look at me." Trixie rummaged in one of her hat's hidden pockets, then waved something around. "This is the only unfamiliar thing I can find…"

Twilight looked at it. "What the hay? That's the Crystal Heart!"

"It is?" Trixie rotated it, and Twilight found herself forced to resort to a brute force bunker shield as her friend abruptly dropped everything else to focus on examining the small crystal.

"It is indeed," Trixie concluded after almost a minute. "Despite the size. Well, we would appear to have been dropped right in the middle of a thriller plot."

They shared glances.

"Dibs I be the nutty but well armed one!" Trixie shouted.

"Well, yeah, that was a given," Twilight allowed. "Guess I'll have to be the quiet, bookish one who analyzes things."

"We need a third member," Trixie muttered. "Hmmm…"

"Oi!" a griffin shouted at them. "Are you going to bother paying attention to us, or…"

Both unicorns fired stun spells at once.

Twilight went for subtlety, weaving in a viral component which bounced between the various other ponies and griffins forming the hit squad, neutralizing them all with minimal effort.

Then Trixie's spell connected, and sent him flying out the window.

"Overenthusiastic warlock," Twilight teased.

"Petty efficiency-focused mage," Trixie rejoined.

"You're right, we do need someone else." Twilight then blinked. "And I know just the pony."

* * *

"You see," Sombra said silkily, trotting in a circle around the two unicorns, "The Crystal Heart is the most powerful magical artefact known to pony kind."

"Seventh!" Twilight interrupted.

"Eighth," Trixie replied. "I found one of those ones from the Daring Do stories once-"

"The prattle of small minds." Sombra shook his head, and turned away from the manacled ponies. "But I have no more concerns. You are trapped, your magic is blocked, and my triumph is at hand."

Trixie sniggered. "You are asking for it _so_ much."

"Do go on," Sombra invited. "It's another minute until the ritual reaches the crescendo, so I can spare the time for a moment's amusement."

"And again!" The showpony shrugged. "But if you want to keep doing that, go ahead. It'll just make the irony more funny."

"I'm afraid all the ironic amusement will be on my side," Sombra gloated, still in that icily smooth voice which sounded so wrong to Twilight. "For nothing can stop me now!"

At that point, Luna broke through the ceiling.

"Told you," Trixie said smugly.

"WE HAVE ARRESTED HIM!" Luna boomed out. "AGENT T, WE DID IT! DOES THIS MEAN WE ARE NO LONGER PROBATIONARY?"

Twilight smirked. It had taken some fast talking with her brother to get Trixie and herself officially enlisted into his Guard unit, and then more to keep them off the books… but the result was that they were basically the Mares in Black.

Though it did kind of suck that, since Luna would have to be L, and that left Trixie with T, she had to be content with being agent S.

"Yep," Trixie answered Luna. "Well done, agent Elle."

* * *

"So, who's going to be coming after that thing next?" Twilight asked speculatively, as the regular guard moved in on what used to be Sombra's base of operations.

"Trixie has no idea. And she still can't get it to go away."

Twilight and Luna both sniggered. Neither of them knew why the Crystal Heart followed Trixie around either (and Twilight hoped it wouldn't last past the Loop), but it was funny. Especially that time someone tried to steal it, and it had just vanished from his saddlebags to reappear in her hat.

"Actually," Luna said, remembering to keep her voice down this time, "We have heard rumours that the Changelings seek the gem. Again."

"What, really?" Trixie frowned. "This Chrysalis is unusually persistent. This is, what, the seventh time?"

"Sixth, I think," Twilight said. "That lot in Neighagra Falls were just local, part of an emotion smuggling ring. No, I don't know how you smuggle an emotion either."

"What do you think she'll send this time?" Trixie mused. "Cut price ninja changelings again?"

"Who knows."

* * *

22.2

"Okay, somepony up there's _got_ to be playing a joke on me."

Twilight surveyed the field from her office window. One absolutely colossal building. A long runway, easily five miles long. A much smaller runway which led to a pair of gantries and a blast trap.

And dozens of little green men in spacesuits waiting expectantly for her to tell them what to do.

"Right," she said eventually, and started for the Vertical Assembly Building. "Time to introduce these… _Kerbals_, to the concept of a wind tunnel."

* * *

She felt quite smug, as the enormous rocket was finally moved out onto the launch pad. It wasn't an SSTO launcher, those would still take a while to perfect, but it should be fine for a moon shot.

"Everything ready?"

"One hundred percent!" Jebediah said, saluting. "Rocket fuelled and ready to-"

Then there was a bang.

When Twilight's hearing returned it was raining bits of rocket, Kerbals in extremely tough space suits, and even large amounts of dirt washed up in the blast.

"Oh, come on!" she shouted, as a Kerbal bounced past – he'd be fine, he landed on his head. "What even caused that?"

Jebediah shrugged. "Just happens sometimes. Well known fact, one in five fuel reserves just randomly explode if looked at funny." The Kerbal clapped Twilight on the shoulder. "Don't worry, it's just how the world works. Hell, it doesn't even matter if they're full or not – I once saw a rocket run out of fuel on the launchpad, then explode hard enough to send the Kerbalnaut into orbit anyway."

"_Right."_ Twilight shook her head sadly. "Oh, well, back to the drawing board."

"You could always just build a plane with five hundred ailerons," Jebediah suggested. "Flap them to take off."

"Would that even work?" At his nod, Twilight's expression turned thoughtful. "I don't know what you have for physics here, but it seems exploitable…"

* * *

22.3

"Huh," Twilight said, looking over at her 'sister'. "I have to admit, I'm surprised this one took so long to come up…"

Celestia nodded. "I wondered if it was possible at all, given your descriptions of the various other loops with recent alicorns. But here we are."

"Indeed." Twilight's horn glowed as she enforced a chaos negation spell. "Any particular plans?"

"Yes, actually," Celestia said. "I want to show you all the tricks of being a ruler that you might have missed."

"…Princess…" Twilight began, "I've done loops like this at least a dozen times. I'm pretty much certain that I'm, technically, older than you by now. By quite a lot."

"There's always something to learn." Celestia smiled mysteriously.

"Oh, knock it off with the Dumbledore stuff."

* * *

"I can't tell if this is a good idea or a bad one…" Twilight mused.

"Why not?" Celestia asked, passing Twilight a hard hat (complete with hole for the horn). "I know I've never had the time to see what's at the core of the planet."

"Yeah, it is interesting stuff…" Twilight paused, then pointed. "But just over there is a gateway to Tartarus."

"Eh." Celestia shrugged. "Alright, get digging!"

* * *

"Right, that's another hydra…" Twilight trotted over, the monster bobbing along in a telekinetic field. "Three heads, this one."

"Thank you," Celestia replied, taking the monster. "But we appear to have a problem. They keep escaping through the hole."

"So we need to rebuild the ceiling of Tartarus?" Twilight asked. "Is that what you're saying?"

"Not quite." Celestia focused, and then the hydra went flying moon-wards.

"Let's see them escape from _that_," she said smugly.

"You… kind of like sending things to the moon, don't you?" Twilight said rhetorically. "Good thing Luna isn't around right now, I'm sure she'd protest."

"Go find some of those Scylla that escaped," Celestia instructed. "Try looking in the ocean."

"So, what you're trying to teach me is..?"

"Clean up after your own mistakes." Celestia replied smoothly. "Which is why I'm making you do it."

"Right, lesson learned, fob off boring tasks on your students…" Twilight shot back.

"It's called postgraduate work." Celestia winked.

* * *

22.4

"Nice to see you, Rarity and Sweetie," Twilight said, ticking off another pair of names. "Start line's over there – and no panicking, Rarity!"

"Perish the thought!" Rarity said, looking down at her little sister. "We're going to do as well as possible – and if that dreadful mud looks like being a problem, well, I have designed my outfit to be mud resistant!"

"How come you didn't make mine mud resistant?" Sweetie asked.

"You're not wearing anything." Rarity pointed out.

"Well, yeah… but I could have been!"

Twilight watched the unicorns walk off bickering for a moment or two longer. That was another wrinkle that Rarity had learned to carefully smooth over, then.

"Alright, who's next – Princess Celestia?!"

Heads turned, some of them with the attached jaws dropping.

"Yes?" that alicorn asked, her eyes dancing. "Is there a problem?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Twilight asked, the question having more than one layer.

As did the answer. "I wanted to surprise you. Anyway – Luna! Luna?"

The black princess trotted over from a table of refreshments. "We particularly enjoy indulging Ourselves in this thing you call 'toffee'."

Twilight looked sideways at Celestia. "Her too?"

"Indeed," Celestia replied mysteriously. "Now, I and my sister wish to enter."

"…sure, why not. You're sisters, after all." Twilight pointed to the two of them. "You know the rules, right?"

"Yes." Celestia rattled them off, and Twilight checked the list.

"Well, you seem all set, then. Just one reminder – when it says no use of magic or wings in the foot race, that _is_ a rule. It's basically for fairness."

"Hah!" Luna said, drumming her hooves on the floor. "I think we shall be fine."

* * *

"Right," Twilight said, as she heaved an incredibly muddy Luna out of a sink hole. "For reference? Spreading wings when you're tripping into mud just increases the surface area."

"Well, I know that _now_…" Luna muttered. "This is so embarrassing."

"Well, Celestia's still down there." Twilight sluiced Luna down with water. "That should get the worst off. Hey, er… how long can alicorns last without air?"

"Indefinitely." Luna then turned back to the pool. "But it isn't exactly pleasant. I suggest you extract my sister soon."

"Are you two just denser, or something?" As she spoke, Twilight began to lift the entire sinkhole out of the ground and summoned up a bubble of water to wash Celestia off.

"Our hooves are essentially normal size, and we weigh rather a lot more than a normal pony – especially without passive magic to reduce the weight a bit." Luna went off, presumably to ask for a cloud.

* * *

"Pfffffeh!" Celestia sniffled. "Not one of my better ideas…"

Twilight shook her head, and spoke in a whisper. "I know full well alicorns are more durable than that – no mere dunking will give you a cold." She paused. "You did that deliberately, didn't you?"

"_Mostly _deliberately." Celestia spat more muddy residue out. "But yes, I never really intended to win."

"Can't blame you…" Twilight replied, watching Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo celebrating. "I know they're not _really_ sisters, but they both insisted."

Luna came over with eight cups of hot chocolate. "Four for you, Celly. Goodness, but we screwed that one up…"

"Speak for yourself." Celestia drank the first mug. "Oh, I needed that."

"We planned on coming just behind the leaders, not getting sunk into a _bog!"_ Luna hissed.

Twilight shook her head, and left the sisters to their argument.

Strange how that part of having a sibling worked…

* * *

22.5 (more Turning the Tables, from Stainless Steel Fox)

"Thanks Rarity." Twilight said as the group walked towards the Town hall. "That puts my mind at ease a bit."

"Think nothing of it." The white mare waved her thanks away with a hoof. "I just wish you weren't being so mysterious about it. Is this some-pony a colt-friend? Is he the one you left Canterlot over?"

"No, just a dear friend." Twilight decided it was time to let some of the back-story out, to cushion when she was ready to tell everything. Besides, she felt it was what her in-loop self would do. "And he wasn't the one I disappointed. I had a very responsible position, and I failed in my duties. I thought it was only a small thing, helping my friend out, but clearly I was wrong.

"I left something undone for a few hours while I went off, but I honestly thought it wouldn't make a difference. It wasn't time critical, just some research about old legends. I still don't know what was so important about it... When I was called to answer for my mistake, I couldn't take it. I resigned, left Canterlot altogether, told myself it was better to avoid causing further embarrassment."

She hung her head. "I'm beginning to realise that it was a selfish option, and a cowardly one. I should have stayed, taken my lumps, even if the end result would most likely have been the same, leaving Canterlot in disgrace. After the Summer Sun Celebration I'll go back, find out exactly what was so terrible about what I didn't get done, and face whatever punishment I have coming. I just hope I have here to come back to afterwards."

Applejack looked at her askance and asked, "No-pony got hurt did they?"

"NO!" Twilight exclaimed. She felt guilty in that it wasn't exactly true, the whole mess with Blueblood, Spike being left alone, there had been several people hurt. "Not directly, anyway, but I'm beginning to realise that my leaving may have hurt quite a few people. I swear, I never imagined any-pony would get hurt or I'd never have left my library!"

That was the truth. Even Celestia would ultimately have come out of it wiser, however much she might be worried in the short term. Applejack looked closely at the pale blue unicorn, and finally nodded her head. "I guess that's fine. Though I'd like to know the full story."

Pinkie bounced up and down. "Oh oh! I bet she's Twilight Sparkle and the princess is the one she disappointed, and that the old legends are some secret for stopping some massive evil thingie that's going to appear..."

She came to a halt with a puzzled expression. "No, wait, if that was the case, why would the Princess want to send her to Ponyville rather than keeping her in the library to finish her research? Silly me!"

She slapped the side of her head with her hoof as Twilight goggled. Then she gave a sigh. "Well, you got the first bit right."

That managed to produce as fine a crop of double-takes as had ever been seen. She waved a hoof to stop the inevitable exclamations.

"But please, can every-pony keep it to themselves? I'm known as Codex here, and I'd like to have a bit more time to be just Codex before I have to deal with whatever Twilight Sparkle has coming. But you're also right, if there was some big threat on the horizon, Princess Celestia would surely have told me right out, given me time to prepare."

Rainbow Dash flew down beside Pinkie Pie. "But how the hey did you figure that out?"

"Well, duh!" The pink pony exclaimed. "We get told about a pony who'd vanished from Canterlot mysteriously by Blueblood, obviously it's foreshadowing the big reveal that the pony is our new friend who comes from Canterlot and appeared mysteriously."

"And my friend is a baby dragon called Spike, and blue garnets are his favourite food." Twilight added.

"Oh my!" Fluttershy was suddenly beside her, and beside herself. "You have a baby dragon?"

"He was my number one assistant. I take care of him,and vice versa. I'll try and set up a chance to meet him, if Princess Celestia lets me anywhere near him after the way I messed up."

Twilight was surprised when she reached the Town Hall and saw Shining Armour there as part of the Royal Guard detail. Not only was his presence a surprise, but the fact that he his uniform clearly identified him as Captain of the Guard. That shouldn't have happened for several months yet... Then her in-loop memories told her that it had happened, and that she'd just sent a note congratulating him.

'Princess Celestia was right about one thing, I desperately needed to get out and make some friends. Just a note? For my BBBFF? Some LSBFF I turned out to be. I was well on my way to going completely Starswirl!'

She took pride in the fact that he didn't give her a second glance as she went in the main doors with her new friends. There were other changes, a couple of small but elegant air-boats and a couple of fancy carriages parked nearby. Blueblood was inside, making small talk with a number of wealthy looking unicorns and earth-ponies, she recognised Fancy Pants and Fleur De Lys among them, and along with Filthy Rich.

Events inside unfolded as they had a hundred times before, Fluttershy conducted her bird chorus fanfare, the mayor gave her speech, and Twilight watched out of the corner of her eye as the four stars of the conjunction approached the moon, and vanished behind it, causing the image of the mare in the moon to disappear.

Her magical senses were far more acute than they'd once been, and the passive magical detection spell she'd cast didn't hurt. She could feel the bright shining beacon of Princess Celestia's aura, hidden away in the back room behind the curtains, and the surge as it was engulfed and extinguished by the shadowed aura of Nightmare Moon.

"...Princess Celestia!"

The gasps of shock as the opened curtains revealed the total lack of Princesses or a reasonable facsimile were as nothing to the shock and awe as a cloud of star-shot purple mist appeared on the dias and resolved itself into Nightmare Moon.

"Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious, little sun-loving faces."

Standard speech, same old, same old... wait, there were more pegasus guards than usual, and they were manoeuvring dark clouds into position in the rafters.

"What have you done with our Princess!" Rainbow Dash yelled, charging, and was as always restrained by Applejack.

Blueblood of all ponies joined in. "Yes, tell us where she is at once!"

The mare no longer in the moon chuckled. "Why, am I not royal enough for you? Don't you know who I am?"

"Ooh, ooh, more guessing games! Um, Hokey Smokes! How about... Queen Meanie!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "No! Black Snooty, Black Snooty!"

"Wrong, she's obviously a crazy party-crashing Nightmare Night reject." Twilight suggested. "Go home! You're months early! And those wings and horn look fake! Get off-stage and let the Princess get out!"

While she was calling the villain out, she also scooped up Fluttershy with her telekinesis and brought them down to the main floor. She was about to do the same for Rarity when her brother's horn glowed and swept her down to him. Rarity realised who'd carried her away and looked worshipfully at him.

"Yeah! Tell us where the Princess is!" "Boo!" "Spoilsport!" "Lame!" The other ponies started heckling her. The three future crusaders started throwing candy at her. Meanwhile the guards on the ground were clearly moving into position at a signal from Shining Armour.

The look on Nightmare Moon's face went from smug to furious, and lightning cracked around her, silencing every-pony. "I will not stand for this disrespect! I am Nightmare Moon! Sister of Celestia and Princess of all Equestria!"

"You lost any right to that title a millennium ago, when you turned on your sister and the ponies you were supposed to protect, and tried to bring eternal night!" Shining Armour had stepped forward, horn glowing. Twilight felt the Message spell trigger as he said, more quietly. "Sergeant, clear the civilians out."

Twilight suddenly realised what this all meant. He couldn't be thinking...

Nightmare Moon was too wrapped up in her boasting to see the movement in the crowd below her. "And this time I shall! My oh so precious sister is bound in the sun, where she will stay! I control the sun and moon now, and I will do so, forever!"

Lightning crackled around her again, but Shining Armour called out, "Not on my watch! Luna, once Princess of Equestria and self-styled Nightmare Moon, you are hereby charged with high treason, the assault and kidnapping of Princess Celestia and making hackneyed villain speeches! Surrender or we will use force!"

Oh dear Celestia! Her brother was going to try and arrest her!

"Ha!" Nightmare Moon sneered. "You pathetic ponies should be taking my orders!"

"Very well, all pegasi fire! Full charge!" A dozen massive lightning bolts jumped from the cloud and enveloped Nightmare Moon. The balcony was splintered in seconds, too fast to even catch fire, and Shining Armour, and two other unicorns of the Royal Guard who'd been standing well back came together and cast a purple containment shield that closed around her. Prince Blueblood charged up a few seconds later, horn glowing, but Shining Armour waved him off with a hoof. "Don't, you'll destabilise it... help get every-pony out of here!".

For a wild moment Twilight wondered if they could actually do it, then felt Nightmare Moon's power surge. This was far more than her usual casual lightning slap to knock away the guards sent to seize her. She was drawing power from somewhere, enough to respond with enough power to burn out their horns, maybe even kill them.

The sky outside lightened towards pre-dawn, and she made the connection. Celestia must still be fighting to break free! But it wouldn't be in time to save her brother! Without further thought she jumped in beside him and covered them with a shield of her own, just as the purple sphere enclosing Nightmare Moon shattered and a blast of dark energy surged from her horn to strike at them.

It spent it's energy smashing the shield, shattering into smaller streamers and sending the four unicorns sprawling backwards, but Nightmare Moon looked visibly weaker afterwards. She turned her face to the lightening horizon with an expression of fear and hate. Her horn glowed a fierce black, and the sky darkened again, but it clearly exhausted her. Before any-pony could do anything about it, she turned into a cloud of black mist and swept away.

"uhhh..." Shining Armour shook his head as he pulled himself up. "Thank you miss... You saved our lives."

Twilight was pony-piled by her friends. "Codex dear, are you alright!" "Whoa! That was awesome!" "Ohh ohh! Do it again!"

Twilight lifted herself to her feet with a glow of her horn and shook herself. Her pince-nez glasses were missing and her mane was in disarray. "Cast another shield right now! Expand it out to cover the Town Hall and encompass every-pony."

"Uh... what?" asked the confused unicorn stallion.

"Now, please!" She pleaded. He cast the spell and another bubble expanded out from his horn, engulfing the others and expanding. As he did, her horn glowed and she added her own spell to the flow of power. The spell passed through the walls of the town hall, and the sky outside seemed to lighten, triggering gasps of awe from many of the ponies.

The mayor had managed to make her way over, glancing up at the dawn light outside the windows. "What did you just do? Did you just raise the sun?"

"I'm afraid not." Twilight sighed. "I just added a daylight effect to the interior of Shining Armour's spell. That Nightmare Moon seemed terrified of the dawn. If she is a creature of night, she should be unable to snoop inside this bubble, for as long as it lasts."

"That was some pretty ingenious spell-work, miss..."

"Codex." That would do for now. To be honest, she was half ready to give up the whole deception, but now wasn't the time for long explanations. "It's only a stop-gap measure, but it's all I could come up with. We need time to prepare, time to research, to figure out how to stop her. Even a unicorn triune couldn't contain her, though it's clear she's using power for something else."

"You know, Miss Codex," the Royal Guard Captain said, "you remind me a lot of my little sister."

Rarity wilted a bit. The oh-so-dashing stallion was interested in the librarian instead.

"I should. I'd say that I know Twilight Sparkle pretty well." Twilight said. "After all, she spends a lot of time in the library."

That perked Rarity right up. This was Twilight's brother? That had possibilities...

Shining Armor smiled. "You're one of Twilie's friends? That's great! To be honest, Mom, Dad, and I have been worried that she wasn't getting out much. Even Cadie's worried..."

Rarity's defeat was total. She could hear the affection in that pet name... This was just. The. Worst. Possible. Thing...

That was quickly overshadowed by a cry from Applejack. She was standing by an oddly shaped bush, no a pair of bushes, one wrapped around another almost protectively. It was like natural topiary, in the shape of two ponies, a bigger one shielding the smaller one, with a familiar red bow bound into it's branches.

"I saw her run back in... Big Mac tried to fetch her, and then they were hit by one of those splashes of magic when it broke on your shield..." The earth-pony was distraught.

Twilight was stricken. Things had really gotten out of control. She cast a quick diagnostic spell and heaved a big sigh of relief. "They're alive and aware, just trapped in those forms. Nightmare Moon must have wanted trophies she could gloat over. It should be possible to turn them back..."

"Then do it!" Applejack demanded.

Twilight could do it, but only by going full alicorn. The best in-loop Twilight could do was... "A unicorn can't overpower alicorn magic, and Princess Cadence isn't a magic specialist. I can give them mobility, alter the transformation. It shouldn't affect turning them back when we have the power available..."

Her horn glowed and the two tree shapes shifted, twisted. They fell apart, then got to their hooves, or rather paws. Two timber wolves stood there, one taller than Shining Armour, the other just a puppy with big mossy feet, but still as big as most of the ponies there. However, both had glowing green eyes, and a full set of thorny claws and sharpened stakes for teeth.

Applejack scrambled a few steps back, falling on her rump, and she wasn't the only one. "Big Mac? Is that you in there?"

"Eyup!" The voice was the stallion's. He shook his head, which had a thatch of yellow grass. "At least I reckon so."

The littler timber wolf spoke in "Oh wow! That was so neat!" She plucked at her head which had a coating of reddish orange leaves, emulating her mane style.

The two bigger members of the Apple family galloped over to grab her in a three way hug, which resulted in several scratches for Applejack.

Twilight shook her head. "I'm sorry, I was going for tree-ponies, but the existing magic fought me."

"Of course it would, there are only two of them, silly!" Pinkie Pie interjected.

"This was the best I could do. Applejack, I am so sorry..."

The earth-pony looked back at her, but her expression wasn't angry. "It's okay Twilight, you couldn't know this would happen, and you've done your best to fix it."

"Twilight!" Shining Armour exclaimed.

"Oh, horse-apples." Twilight turned to her brother and let her disguise drop. "Yes, it's me."

"But what are you doing here?! Do you know how worried every-pony's been about you? Why were you disguised as somepony else?"

"Because Codex never failed her princess, either by being less than the perfect student Princess Celestia wanted me to be, or running away rather than facing the music when I eventually fell short of her expectations. Codex isn't going to be spoken of in the same tone as Sunset Shimmer! Twilight Sparkle is going to have to face Princess Celestia and be formally dismissed as her personal student, and all because I took Spike to that party!

"Maybe you and the rest of the family were worried about my not making any friends, but Princess Celestia clearly thinks differently. Though if those old legends were about the return of Nightmare Moon, I can see why they were important. Even so, if Princess Celestia had given any indication of their importance, I'd have stayed in my tower and get some-pony else to escort Spike! Though a couple of hours wouldn't have made much difference, I could have stayed for the whole party and still read all those books before today!"

"Hold on a second!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "That's why Princess Celestia was going to dismiss you? Because you took a couple of hours off to go to as party?"

"Yes!" Twilight exclaimed. "Her previous student, Sunset Shimmer had the talent, the ability to be a great mage. But she wasn't willing to work for it, and bailed on the Princess when she wasn't allowed access to all the high level magics before mastering the lesser ones. Then she took me on, and I'd been fascinated by magic ever since the Summer Sun Celebration when I was a foal, where I first saw the Princess raised the sun. It was about the biggest honour imaginable, and I swore never to let anything get in the way of studying, never to become another Sunset Shimmer.

"I'd already built good study habits, and I stuck to them, not letting anything distract me, such as a social life, or making friends. I had Spike, and Cadence, and my BBBFF... Big Brother Best Friend Forever. And of course Princess Celestia herself. I didn't think I needed any other friends, and Princess Celestia agreed. She never suggested I try and make any, at least.

"Then I went to that party Moondancer was holding, because Spike had a crush on her and I wanted to see him safely there. I only meant to stay for a few minutes, see him settled, but I got talking to ponies and I found out I was wrong. Ponies I'd only ever known as exam scores were suddenly real to me, and finding out about them was fun! I could even help them with their studies, and actually using my knowledge felt wonderful too!

"Then I got the letter, right in the middle of the party, summoning me to her at once, none of the normal pleasantries she always puts in. She wouldn't have done that unless she was displeased with me. I realised that she must think I was starting down the path Sunset Shimmer had, and that she probably wasn't going to take chances."

She sighed. "I lost it, I can admit that now, but at the time all I could think of was that I'd failed, and all I wanted to do was hide in a hole somewhere and pull the hole in after me. That's what Codex was all about, finding out about this library job in Ponyville on the train seemed perfect, but I needed to be some-pony who didn't have Twilight Sparkle's baggage. Who was still allowed to make friends. So I hid..."

"I don't believe it!" Blueblood had arrived back inside and had stormed up. "So all the time it was you?! She was probably just summoning you to send you to oversee the Summer Sun Celebrations!"

"How could I possibly have thought that?!" Twilight shouted back, then stopped herself. "I'm sorry, I know it affected you... but to be honest, _you_ make more sense as Overseer than I do. I've never performed any kind of official function before, my strength is research, not socialising with ponies, I am in every possible way one of the least likely ponies in Canterlot to be picked for it. Maybe she did, but that was before I messed up."

Astoundingly Blueblood cracked a smirk. "And yet, in a single day, you manage to insinuate yourself into this town, bring together a group of ponies and get them to follow you, even face down a Prince. I've heard auntie talk about your organising abilities too."

"That's just, I mean... I didn't..." Twilight gave up, and rolled her eyes. "Okay, so you have a point. But look at it from my point of view, I get interrupted and called up on the carpet after abandoning my studies to make some friends, the last thing I'd expect would to be told was to abandon my studies, go to Ponyville to be Royal Overseer for the Summer Sun Celebration, and make some friends. It makes no sense!"

In loop that was absolutely true. Indeed, that was the whole point of everything she'd done this loop.

"It all makes sense, if you knew what everything that was going on." Shining Armour had been listening the whole time, rather than jumping in. He wanted to get Twilight's side of things. It was clear Princess Celestia had been pretty much on the money, as usual.

"Those old legends you were supposed to read, they did explain about Nightmare Moon. They also explained how Princess Celestia used some artifacts called the Elements of Harmony to seal her in the moon." He gave the story the Princess had told him, including the belief that Luna had been turned into Nightmare Moon by some sort of corrupting entity.

Rainbow Dash gave forth her two bits worth. "So why didn't the princess just haul out the Elements again and zap her when she got back?"

"Because using the Elements like that wrecked them, the books just say they were lost, but before then the two sisters always worked together to wield them, and their bond of friendship was one of the things that made them work. Turning them against Luna meant she could only use them at a fraction of their full power, meaning she was only able to banish her rather than heal her.

"Even doing that much wrecked them beyond repair, leaving husks, a set of plain rocks. Also, from the way she acted, I think she and Luna were as close as Twily and I. Banishing her must have been like ripping her heart in half. Even if she could, I don't think she would."

Twilight mused. "Presumably there's some way to restore them to full power, and she believed I could find it, though what I can do that a full powered alicorn princess couldn't escapes me. Wait... there was a book I found when I was cleaning up the library, 'The Elements of Harmony, A Reference Guide". Some-pony has filed it under 'E' in the fiction section. I put it in it's proper place in the reference section, under 'Myths and Legends'."

Shining Armour chuckled. "I should have guessed you'd figure it out. Apparently, on the day you got your cutie-mark, when you went all super-Starswirl, she sensed that the elements had been reborn and that you had a connection to them. Did you read the book?"

"No, I just filed it, if I'd started reading the books I'd have never gotten anything done. How's the spell holding up?"

Shining Armour looked surprised at the question. "At this size, I can keep it going for hours."

"Then we should get over to the library with you keeping the spell over us."

&&&

In practice, they couldn't get to the library right away as they had to calm down a large heard of frightened ponies. But with the mayor to calm the Ponyvillians and Blueblood to deal with the Canterlot group, they managed to convince every-pony that a solution was being found.

To reassure them, Twilight ended up having to create a ward matrix for Shining Armour to transfer the original shield spell to, powered by the other two unicorn guards to maintain a shield over the town hall, while the pair duplicated the spell to cover the smaller group. Shining Armour found he couldn't maintain the shield while moving, and they had to redo it when they reached the library.

'There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery. When when the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed. It is said, the last known location of the five elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. It is located in what is now the Everfree Forest.'

That got almost universal shudders from the Ponyville contingent, but Twilight looked confused. "That's it? I mean if the final confrontation took place there then, yes, that makes sense, but logically, the only pony who could have written this was Princess Celestia herself. How could any of it be a mystery to her? Why hide all the clues so cryptically?"

"She didn't want some-pony unworthy to find out all the information, and learn how to use the elements. In the wrong hooves, they could be as big a threat as Nightmare Moon."

"But if only I have the connection needed to reawaken them..."

"She didn't know that until long after these books were written."

"So she was going to send me to Ponyville as it's the closest town to the Everfree Forest, and hope I'd join the dots. I can see why she wanted some-pony who'd rather be with books than friends... at least till recently." She looked around at the five ponies who'd followed her. Plus Blueblood, and Applejack's family, who she refused to leave alone.

"She admitted she'd made a mistake, several mistakes in how she handled this situation. She was going to summon you, and tell you some of this herself. In fact, she decided to tell me the rest of it, so I could pass it on to you when I found you."

"That sounds more sensible, but then why did you pull that stunt in the Town Hall?"

"I hoped we could contain her, force her to release the Princess or at least keep her from doing any more damage until you had the Elements ready to use."

"So what is the other part of what I needed to work out?"

"The husks in the old Royal palace are only half of the equation. The spirits of the Elements were reborn in the souls of five ponies, who she believed now live in Ponyville. But how you're going to find them..."

"Oh, oh! I know, maybe the five of us are the five elements!" Pinkie called out.

"Sugarcube, that'd be neat and all, but what're the chances?" Applejack replied. "I mean ain't none of us ever met her before yesterday. You heard her brother say she had to have some kinda connection from when she got her cutie-mark..."

Twilight looked around. "Did any of you ever come to Canterlot when you were fillies? When I got my cutie-mark, it was the day I was doing my entrance exam for Princess Celestia's school for Gifted Unicorns. And failing, the magic just wouldn't come, until I saw a rainbow light in the sky. It unlocked something inside me... Dash, were you flying overhead...? No it looked more like an explosion."

"Never flew to Canterlot before today, though when I got my cutie-mark I did a Sonic Rainboom. Could that be the explosion you saw?"

"Ohmigosh!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "I saw a rainbow coloured boom when I was working on my family's rock farm. It made me feel all happy and light, and I wanted to share that feeling, so I threw my first party and got my cutie-mark!"

"I discovered my talent for creating fabulous designs when a rainbow shock-wave broke open a geode full of gems." Rarity interjected.

"And I was in Manehattan, tryin' to be a fancy pony when I saw a rainbow from the direction of Ponyville. It made me realise where I belonged, right back on Sweet Apple Acres. I guess you were right Pinkie, if Fluttershy can say the same thing."

The yellow pegasus cringed under the attention, but managed to get out. "Well, I did discover my talent for understanding animals when a rainbow explosion in the sky scared the poor things. Is that what you meant?"

Twilight grinned inwardly. If only they'd made this kind of connection the first time round. She gave a date, and they all agreed with it.

"Then I guess we've got the beginnings of a plan. It's even obvious who's who. Pinkie Pie, who cheered me up when I was about as low as I could go is the spirit of laughter. Applejack, the pony who wanted to do things the right way rather than cheat, even against an unfair opponent, has to be the spirit of honesty. Rarity, who took in a pony off the street and made her welcome, and used her own gems to make the celebration shine is the spirit of generosity. Rainbow Dash, who leaped in to protect Fluttershy and would have charged Nightmare Moon to protect her friends is the spirit of loyalty. Finally, Fluttershy, who cares for all the animals is the spirit of kindness."

"So all you need is the husks and a lightning spell, and you're set!" Shining Armour said with a relieved expression.

"That's awfully literal." Twilight thought out loud. "Maybe it's a spark of inspiration, of friendship, as they gave me their friendship, inspired me to stop feeling sorry for myself and try and make up for the mess I made... we are still friends, aren't we?"

"Yes! Awesomest best friends!" Pinkie bounced around.

"Then that makes me the sixth element bearer, whatever it is. I guess all we have to do is get to the husks, and that should reunite them with the spirits and create the sixth element."

"Uh, what happens to us?" Rainbow asked. "Not that I'm worried or anything..."

"No, good question." Twilight replied. "They won't suck you in or anything like that. Best guess, you'll get a new piece of jewelry or something similar. You are now the spirits of the elements and the husks will bond to you, not the other way round."

"You're forgetting that those things are halfway across the Everfree Forest." Rarity shuddered. "Having to walk all that way through the creepy forest at night, not to mention the muck. Well, if we must, then we must."

"I believe I can supply a solution." Blueblood offered. "My private and exceptionally luxurious air-yacht is moored by the town hall. And my talent is navigation." He pointed his horn back along his flank at the compass rose cutie-mark.

"Twily, I think you should have me along too." Shining Armour said. "If you're going to be working on the Elements, you won't be able to protect yourself. I can provide you with shield spells."

Big Mac rumbled. "I reckon if Prince Blueblood's ship can carry us all, I should come along too. I don't know this magic stuff from a bushel of apples, but I can protect Applejack, and all of you fillies."

"Oh, oh! Me too!" Apple Bloom piped up.

"Uh huh, you young filly are going to plant yourself right here!" Applejack replied.

"Awww!" The earth-pony turned tree-puppy pouted, which looked really odd on a timber wolf face.

Twilight hadn't expected the offers of help, but she wasn't going to turn them down. All she really wanted to do was get the quest over with as quickly as possible. From what her brother had said, her plan had succeeded perfectly, which didn't explain why she felt so rotten about it. When this was all over, she was going to have a long talk with the Princess.

She still considered the way the princess had handled things wrong, but that didn't mean that Twilight's response was right. Maybe if she'd just discussed her concerns, that might have been an alternative solution. But she was set in this course, and if she couldn't go back and do things differently (at least until next loop) she could make sure this adventure would have a happy ending.

"Okay, then!" She said, looking around the expanded fellowship of the elements. "Let's go!"

Omake (with polish from Capt Crysallid)

"You have my air-ship!" declaimed Prince Blueblood.

"And my horn!" Shining Armour added.

"And my claws!" Big Mac finished. "What? You were expecting an axe?"

Omake 2 (by Capt Crysallid)

"One does not simply _trot_ into Everfree," Blueblood tried to explain, only to be shot by arrows out of nowhere. "Good lord! This isn't even Act Three yet and already with the arrows?!"

* * *

22.6

"Okay," Rarity said, nodding firmly to herself. "Here we go."

She trotted forward, broke into a run, ascended on the move, spread her wings… and leapt.

There was a moment of fear, as she felt herself free-falling, but she'd already begun the first wingbeat and felt the new-yet-familiar appendages push her bodily skywards.

Again. Again. And then some invisible connection was made in her mind, because the next wingbeat used a healthy dose of weather magic and sent her _soaring._ The feeling was so incredible that she repeated it three more times in a row, before settling into more of a glide.

Looking down, Rarity felt another momentary stab of terror, as she realized just how high she was. But a familiar pair of leathery wings below her banished the fear in a rush of warmth, and of love.

Spike gradually climbed to her height, coasting on a thermal. "Not so bad after all, is it?"

"Not when you're here," she replied. "Just knowing you _could_ catch me, it… puts my mind at rest."

He gave her a quick smile. "Shall we head over there? I packed lunch."

Following his pointing finger, Rarity saw a clearing a few miles off with a rock formation in the middle. "Yes, that looks nice."

* * *

Her landing wasn't precisely perfect, but nor was it the crash she half-dreaded. It just felt easier to let her wings and her new weather magic do the work, and so she wasn't moving fast enough to do anything more than stumble.

Spike made a far more dramatic four-point landing, dropping straight down the last few metres to end in a crouch balanced by tail and one hand.

"Show off," Rarity twitted him, not concealing her relief at being on solid ground again.

And yet, as they ate lunch (mica sandwiches for Spike and chestnuts for her), Rarity found herself tempted constantly to rush the meal.

Once she was done, Spike gave her a knowing grin as she impatiently waited for him to finish.

"Anxious to get back up there?" he asked.

"I… yes, actually," Rarity admitted.

"Once you have tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards; for there you have been, and there you will long to return."

"That's nice. Who's it from?"

"What, you don't think I came up with it?" Spike raised an eyebrow.

"No." Rarity replied flatly, hoof to her mouth to hold in a snigger.

"Some human called Leonardo. He invented flying machines in their world… or something? I can't remember the details. What I do remember is that he never flew in his life." Spike polished off the sandwich. "He was spot on, though."

"Yes, he was." Rarity rolled the words around her head. She was still scared of flying, but somehow the fear had… changed. It wasn't the fear of death any more.

It was the kind of fear you got when going on a roller coaster. The kind of fear that shivered down your spine when you were reading a scary book.

The kind of fear that only made the enjoyment sharper.

"Catch me if you can!" she said suddenly, and leapt skywards. Spike's shout of surprise followed by laughter chased her up, and then she heard one of his own slamming launch wingbeats.

Just maybe, Dash had the right personality for flying, as well as the talent. Grasp the moment with all four hooves, and hang the consequences.

Rarity turned aside, dodging a rapidly ascending Spike. Now, how to keep away from a large and determined dragon… at least until she could get him to take a dunk in the lake…

Best to wash down your lunch, after all.

* * *

22.7

"Spike!" Twilight said, turning.

"Yeah?" The dragon barely looked up from his book. "What is – whoa!"

His threat sense abruptly jangled, and an outflung hand stopped the flying ball an inch from hitting him on the forehead. "What gives, Twi?"

"More evidence for one of my theses!" Twilight answered, grinning. "Excellent data point, by the way."

"What did I even do?" Spike picked the ball out of the air.

"Easy. Your reflex action was to use the Force." Twilight bounced another ball on the ground.

"So?"

"As far as I have been able to prove, the first few loops – and especially the first few _fused_ loops – of a recently awakened Looper could be called 'formative'." She lobbed the ball out of the window, and Scootaloo pinged it back with blurring speed. "Basically, one of your first loops was the Jedi loop, and so it's one of the ones which had an unusual impact on you."

"Okay…" Spike nodded slowly. "Well, there are worse loops to have that happen with."

"Yes, true." Twilight paused, imagining what Spike would be like without the moderating influence of a life trained as Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Though it _had_ still taken him decades to properly get the impulse control side of it down pat.

* * *

22.8

Twilight looked around, then concentrated. There was something on the edge of perception…

With an almost audible _click_, words and images appeared. A list, and:

Select class.

"What?" She looked along the list. Some of them were greyed out, others lit up. "Er… I guess… wizard?"

Wizard selected.

Statistics flowed past, too fast to properly perceive, then she was standing in an inn and wearing a pointy hat and long robes tailored for the unicorn she still was. A further check revealed she had a book of spells, an owl for a familiar, and a couple of dozen gold pieces.

The doorbell jangled, and Twilight felt a smile steal over her as Pinkie Pie bounced into the inn with a balalaika slung over her back.

"Ooh, hi Twilight!" Pinkie said, grinning back. "What are you this time?"

"Er… a Wizard, I suppose."

"I'm a Bard!" Pinkie demonstrated by playing some chords on the instrument… somehow. "I don't just play music – here, it's_ magical_ music!"

"That sounds useful." Twilight frowned, struck by a thought. "Any idea what's going on?"

"We~ll, I think we All Meet In An Inn!" Pinkie spun back towards the door as it opened again. "Wonder who this is!"

It turned out to be Fluttershy, with a bunny rabbit sitting on her head; presumably Angel. Part of Twilight's loop memories told her that the cream-coloured pegasus was a 'Druid'.

"All of us?" Twilight asked, as she waved Fluttershy over. "Hi, 'shy. Nice to see you."

"T…thank you," Fluttershy replied. "Are the others here?"

"Don't know yet, but I suspect so." Twilight looked Fluttershy over closely. "Are you a spellcaster as well this time?"

"Druids use plant magic!" Pinkie answered for her. "And animal magic. So, kinda what Fluttershy does anyway! I wonder what Applejack's going to be?"

As it happened, despite the obvious cue, it was Dash through the door next. She had a slim knotted rope around her forehead and was wearing a simple _gi._

"Monk? Really?" Pinkie said, then shrugged. "Guess they _are_ the fastest."

"Yep!" Dash reared back and did a few demonstration moves. "Nothing better for the fastest pegasus in Equestria!"

"But we're not _in_ Equestria," Twilight pointed out.

"Same difference." Dash landed back on her hooves. "So, what's going on?"

The door slammed open again, and Rarity swanned in followed by a very ill-tempered cat.

"Sorcerer," Pinkie noted. "Ooh, she's got a familiar as well!"

Angel Bunny locked eyes with Opalescent and made quite clear what the price of provoking him would be. He was quite eloquent with his hand gestures.

"This world seems wonderful," Rarity said, lights dancing around her. "I've already learned three new spells, and I can just feel more waiting to be learned!"

"That's how your class works, yep," Pinkie nodded.

"How do you know all this?" Twilight asked.

"Bardic Knowledge!" she answered, with a huge grin. "In practice, it just means I have this with me!"

The pink pony rummaged in her mane and pulled out a large, thick, hardbacked book. It made a _slam_ when it landed on the table.

Twilight picked it up. "Player's Handbook?"

"It's a great read!"

The door swung open one final time, and Applejack joined them.

"Ooh…" Pinkie looked her over. "Barbarian? Interesting choice."

"Don't you be makin' any jokes about book learnin'," Applejack warned Pinkie, "or we see how angry ah can get."

"Right!" The pink pony brushed off the threat. "Now we've All Met In An Inn, we need an Adventure Hook."

What looked like a human – but with pointy ears – handed Pinkie an envelope.

"Thanks, NPC! Oh, guys, this is Nathan Percy Chapham. I talked to him before the rest of you turned up – he knows everything that's going on around here. He's an elf!"

Twilight could feel a headache coming on. "There's this whole set of rules here that I'm not getting, right?"

"Yep!" Pinkie gave her a kind smile. "But just read that book, you'll start to understand. Come on, everypony, apparently there's treasure and stuff at the Keep on the Borderlands!"

* * *

AN:

Yep, more Turning the Tables.  
Crossovers:  
22.1 isn't - they just acted like it was MiB. It's really a standard thriller plotline.  
22.2: Kerbal Space Program.  
22.8 - Dungeons and Dragons.  
Also, there's one I did but was advised might be a bit controversial. It's a Prince of Egypt crossover, and can be found here:  
posts/11530616/  
or here:  
/01ri60x76uvn

or below the fold, in case the links don't work:

* * *

22.x

"…well, I wasn't expecting this," Twilight said distantly.

She was in some kind of semi-desert, wearing robes that weren't well tailored for her unicorn body, and feeling parched. Oh, and there was a burning bush in front of her.

**"And thenceforth – wait, what's going on? Where am I?"** The bush flashed, and a middle-aged human woman was standing there instead. "Wait. Twilight?"

"Princess Celestia?" Twilight managed, and a snippet from her loop memories suggested that human was the normal body shape around here. "What on Equ-no, wait. What on _earth_ has happened to us?" While she tried to work out what was going on, she cast some spells on the ground to pull up water from an aquifer and took a much-needed drink.

"I would appear to be one of the local gods," Celestia said, still sounding a bit confused. "And it also looks like your brother is in charge of Egypt, and that... he has… okay, this is just ridiculous."

"What?" Twilight asked.

"Egyptians keep unicorns as slaves, apparently." Celestia shrugged. "I have no idea why they don't just teleport out, and I don't think the Loop does either."

"Wait." Twilight scanned her memory. "I was apparently raised in the human royal family… without anyone noticing I'm a unicorn."

Celestia shrugged. "I don't know either. Hmm, that might be interesting, though…"

"What?"

"If I'm the goddess of the unicorns, and I'm human, then the fact that the head deities of the human pantheon are apparently three female alicorns might be of note."

And with that, the last connections fell into place.

"Oh, this is just perfect," Twilight sighed, remembering her pre-loop self somehow offending all three of the leaders of the divine pantheon… her sister-in-law, her adoptive daughter, and said daughter's prime self. "Who ordered _this?_"

"I suggest we break with the script," Celestia said, snapping her fingers. Both of them rose into the air. "I hereby make you my prophet for the loop, go free the unicorns. I strongly encourage asking nicely."

* * *

"Let my people go!"

"Okay." Pharaoh Shining the Armoured said, then pointed to a priest. "You heard her. Get to it."

The priests all looked nonplussed. "But… we had a dance routine all lined up!"

"And why should we listen to her anyway?" the hierophant asked, throwing a dirty look to his initiates.

"Well…" Twilight spun her staff. "I'm a princess, right?"

"The gods showed their disfavour for you!" He shook his head. The very picture of a wise man, chastising errant children. "As such, your words have no weight until and unless you make amends."

Light flared in the audience room.

"WE FORGIVE HER," Luna-Ra boomed.

"Yep!" Nyx added. "No problems here!"

Both alicorns paused. Then Nyx sighed. "Cadence?"

The third of their number looked up from where Pharaoh Shining was stroking her with a brush. "Sorry, did you say something?"

"We need to officially forgive Twilight!"

"Oh. Done." Cadence waved a hoof, then cricked her neck. "Yeah, just a couple of knots near the tips there, Shiny. Thanks."

"So," Twilight said brightly. "That emancipation?"

* * *

"We went so far off script it's gone from funny to hilarious," Shining said that evening, watching several priests – unicorn and human both – trying to reconcile Celestia's existence with that of Luna.

Twilight sat down next to him. "Yeah. But better this than those plagues."

"What would you have done if I wasn't Awake?" Shining then asked. "Out of curiosity, I mean."

"Bit of creative modification of the plagues." She began crafting illusions. "I'm particularly proud of the River of Cola, and the Plague of Frog."

"Liberation through the bizarre?" Shining grinned. "I like it."

"Well, yeah. I mean, it's not as if the citizens did anything wrong…"


	23. Chapter 23

23.1

"Do you know," Temeraire said, craning his neck to look at Lawrence, "I do wonder whether we might not interfere with Trafalgar this time."

"Might be an idea, yes." The British Dragoncorps Captain rubbed his chin. "Perhaps, if Admiral Nelson is or feels indebted to us, then he might be more inclined to consider your proposals earlier. And, of course," Lawrence gave a warm smile to his partner, "since he is a kind man, though at times a man who does not suffer fools, it might be that he would consider granting you commission."

"I do enjoy receiving a commission…" Temeraire mused. "Though not at the cost of an invasion of Britain. Have you had any thoughts on my cousin, might I enquire?"

Lawrence winced. Trying to work out how to head off the situation with Lien was never easy – ensuring that her own partner survived was proving harder still than enfranchising dragons, and they could never be remotely sure of either in any given loop.

Then he looked up. "I say, that's unusual."

"What is it?" Temeraire raised his own head, and closed his eyes. "Yes, I can feel it as well. A kind of faint, singing magic."

"It reminds me of when we had Fallarnon and Mnementh to visit," Lawrence said. "I wonder who it is?"

"I hope it is Hiccup and Toothless." Temeraire blinked down at Lawrence. "It does not feel precisely like Fallarnon and Mnementh, though perhaps it is instead Twoflower and Ninereeds – we have not seen them in a while."

"Then come along, dear heart," Lawrence said, making the harness ready for a solo flight. "I am sure they will not begrudge us a day or two to find out."

* * *

The young Celestial circled over Dover. "It is certainly from here," he commented to Lawrence, "though I am at a loss to determine who is not here or who is excess. Can you see anything?"

Lawrence unshipped his telescope. "If you would hover for a moment, dear one, I might be able to check more closely."

"Of course." Temeraire backwinged, and moved his neck as best he could to cancel out the movement of his body.

"I say," Lawrence exclaimed, as the telescope revealed something he could not quite divine from on high. "That's not Lily, in her spot. It looks to be… well, whatever he or she is, that is a purple dragon. I think we should examine this more closely."

* * *

A slim young woman of about twenty-two nodded to Lawrence as he approached the strange dragon. "Good day – oh, Captain, I see. Well, good day to you, Captain."

Lawrence noticed the matching insignia on her shoulders. "And to you, Captain…?"

"Rarity Harcourt," she replied promptly.

Temeraire could not quite restrain a gasp. "So you are the-"

He pulled himself up at Lawrence's slight gesture.

"Yes, I'm a Looper," Rarity replied quietly. She paused. "I assume I'm replacing someone you know?"

"My lover," Lawrence answered.

"Well, no fear of my trying to take her place on that score." Rarity directed a fond look at the dragon lying in Lily's normal spot. "I'm spoken for, though I expect we'll have to avoid making that too clear this loop."

"What is his name?" Temeraire asked. "I would ask him, but it seems as though he is asleep."

"I was," the purple replied. "No harm done. I'm Spykoranuvellitar – you might be interested to know that this time around, at least, Britain has a flame-using dragon."

"Well, one before Iskierka, that is," Temeraire pointed out.

"Oh, you do normally get another?" Rarity asked. "We're not exactly familiar with this loop – I've been running off loop memories since I Awoke here."

"I see." Lawrence thought for a moment, then sat down. "Come on, dear one, it seems we must help a pair of hatchlings through the whirlpool of the Napoleonic Wars."

"Watch it!" Spykoran rumbled, chuckling. "I'm bigger than you two put together."

"For now," Temeraire said quickly, and stuck his tongue out.

"Dear one, I would appreciate it if you would not act like a day-old whelp…" Lawrence said, smiling broadly and shaking his head.

* * *

23.2 (22.8 continued)

"Ah need some healin' over here," Applejack said lightly, lashing out with Rarity-modified Ember Celica and knocking a Lizardman for six.

"I got it! I got it!" Pinkie slid over to behind the Barbarian. "Cure light wounds!"

Applejack waited. "That's it? Ain't much healin'…"

"Well, you could have tried being a Paladin or a Cleric." Pinkie finished the instrumental part and began singing again. _"A land unknown we come so far, we ride the night 'till morning star…"_

"Catchy," Dash commented, grinning as she bounced past AJ towards the main press of the enemy. "Ha, missed me!"

Twilight muttered under her breath. "And…Web!"

"Whoah!" Dash twisted herself in an improbable way, and managed to avoid being stuck. "Watch where you're aiming!"

"With your Dex score and Evasion, you were in no danger!" Pinkie said knowledgeably in a brief gap in vocals.

"I guess I _am_ good at dodging," Dash admitted grudgingly, knocking two trapped Lizardman heads together with a swift kick.

Rarity salvoed off Magic Missiles, then tried a Glitterdust. "Take that! And that! Oh, you beasts, stop swarming Fluttershy!"

"…eep?" Fluttershy managed. "Um… tree shape?"

The lizardmen blinked.

"Where'd she go?" one of them asked, and then got kicked in the kneecap by Angel Bunny.

"That's kind of neat," Twilight muttered, watching as he took half the Lizardmen to pieces by himself. "Because he's so small, all that enhancement magic he gets from Fluttershy is compressed. And since it's Angel anyway…"

"That makes sense, ah think…" Appejack said, nursing a bruise. "Ooh, that's gonna be tender… Them clubs they got have metal cores, y'know."

Twilight winced sympathetically. "Ouch…"

"Yeah." AJ shrugged. "Ain't no real harm done, though."

Then she fell over.

Pinkie trotted over in turn and slapped another Cure spell on. "Barbarians get like this when their Rage runs out."

There was a sudden high-pitched _oof_ of pain, as one of the few remaining Lizardmen finally caught Angel with a club. The rabbit crashed off a wall and bounced to the floor, before rolling upright.

"You _horrible_ people!"

"Speaking of rage…" Twilight gulped, as the tree turned back into Fluttershy.

And then into a leopard.

"Ooh!" Pinkie grinned with a _squeak_ noise. "Ding, hello, level five!"

"Should we… help?" Dash asked, pointing over to the few Lizardmen not unconscious on the floor. "I mean, I kinda feel sorry for them…"

"Well, they did give poor Appejack quite the beating before the rest of us got properly stuck in…" Rarity mused. "I say we give it a minute."

"Fair enough," Twilight said, then lifted Angel off the floor. "Bad bunny, no putting the boot in."

Angel made a rude gesture involving a carrot.

"I don't wanna buck any more trees, grandma…" Applejack murmured, before pushing herself back upright. "Okay, who's got the health potions? Four fights in a row is one too many for my taste. Especially 'cuz I only _got_ two rages, and ah just used th' last one."

"Yes, you make a good point." Twilight examined her spell book. "Ooh, I like the sound of _Haste._"

"You'll like even more that we got the three-point-oh version houseruled in!" Pinkie said. The others examined that statement for a bit, then discarded it for their own peace of mind.

"Er, Fluttershy, dear?" Rarity ventured. "I think you can stop now."

The leopard looked down, winced, and turned back into a pegasus. "Sorry… I just… saw red?"

"Don't we all…" Applejack shrugged. "No harm done, they're all just knocked out. Now, would y' mind givin' me a bit of that first aid o' yours?"

"Not at all." Fluttershy trotted over, a heal spell building on her wings.

* * *

23.3

Twilight nodded along as the local Anchor explained his Loop.

It took quite some time.

"…and then it turns out that, actually, the real _real_ bad guy isn't even Aizen at all! He was some kind of sick red herring, and so were the Xcution people – have I mentioned them yet?"

"No, actually," Twilight replied politely. "But I've run out of notepaper. Can you give me a minute to get another pad?"

Ichigo sighed and nodded. "Go ahead. I swear, my universe is a right mind screw."

"I'm sure you'd be welcome in Equestria if you ever end up there," Twilight offered.

"Eh, no thanks." Ichigo stretched. "I've heard about the place from Naruto, and, well, no offense, but it sounds kind of boring."

"I understand," Twilight said, after a moment. "I heard your loop is potentially the longest, so I can understand if you get bored easily."

"Tell me about it! I've taken to invading Hell for something to do!"

Twilight didn't say anything, remembering a certain drilling expedition.

"Anyway, Xcution. Yeah, watch out for the guy in charge of them – he can make you think he's your friend. Literally – he hits you with his sword, and it's like history is rewritten so he's your best friend."

Twilight surprised him by giggling. "Yeah, if he hit me with that I think he might just end up turning into a pony from backlash."

Her host roared with laughter.

"…okay, as soon as we're done with Aizen, we're testing that!" Ichigo shouted, grinning wildly. "I _so_ want to see that jerk look ridiculous!"

"Glad to help – though it might only work if I'm in my base form." She gestured down at her body – currently human, though tests had shown it was a human false body and a unicorn spirit.

Ichigo was still chuckling. "Right, yeah. Anyway, once Xcution are handled, the next lot is this kinda militant Quincy lot. Best way to handle them is to…"

* * *

Tsukishima darted around a hurried block from Twilight's _Fuhentekina nazo_, and slipped the point of his blade into her shoulder. He wasn't aiming to hurt her – just a nick would serve his purposes.

Then there was a bright flash just as he reached her, and his sword clattered to the ground next to him.

"Are you okay, Tsuki?" he heard Twilight ask. "You dropped your sword!"

"Thanks," he said, reaching for it and nearly falling over as his body didn't react the way he expected it to.

"Oh, no!" Twilight said, pointing. Tsukishima abruptly noticed that she was now, for whatever reason, a unicorn. "Ichigo's coming! Quick, Tsuki, the only way to stop a Looper that powerful is the Elements of Magic!"

_The what?_ _A what? She's a what? What the hell-_

Then he noticed he was a horse.

Then he realized he had no way to carry Book of the End, and hence no way to properly control the mess that was taking place.

And that was when a stray false-memory from his Bookmarking of Twilight told him what the Elements of Harmony were. And that he would somehow have to be a personification of laughter, honesty, loyalty, generosity and kindness all at once.

"Oh, this isn't my day…"

* * *

Twilight blinked as the Loop reset blanked out Book of the End's effects. "Wow, that was one strange loop end. I didn't know the Elements _had_ a backwards firing mode…"

It made a lot of sense, though. If they purified whatever villain had managed to get hold of them and tried to use them, that would put paid to the problem as easily as just firing them _at_ the villain.

Redeemed-Tsukishima was weird, though. He'd started a career working for an internet social media company, at least once Ichigo had stopped laughing himself sick long enough to get them a laptop.

* * *

23.4

'"There's something I have to tell you, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said, blushing. "I… it's kinda been brewing for a while…"

"No need," Twilight replied, stretching out a wing. "I think I can guess."

"But-"

"No, Dash," Twilight added, a slight smirk playing over her features. "You are _not_ good at concealing it."

"…okay." Dash still looked reluctant, so Twilight stepped closer and kissed her gently-'

* * *

"I do _what?_"

Princess Cadence jumped, scattering plastic models all over the place.

"Cadence…" Twilight said slowly, "I am going to go out of the room now. When I come back in again in a second, we won't talk about what you're doing with those models I got from the hub loop."

* * *

23.5

"That's right, foolish peasants!" The eerie, almost insectile alicorn cackled as citizens of Ponyville fled before her. "Nightmare Rarity has arrived, and nothing can save you now!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!"

Nightmare Rarity looked up, nostrils flaring. "I should have known that _you_ would be here… Spykoran."

"Your evil reign ends now!" Spykoran transferred his lance from carry to strike position, holding it in both left arm and left leg. His wings beat, slowly at first, then sent him screaming down towards Nightmare Rarity.

At the last moment, she dodged aside and the lance bit into soft earth. "Fool!"

The dragon spun around on his spear, lashing out with tail and claws, and only just missed hitting his opponent.

Nightmare Rarity's wings slashed forward, crackling with magic, and only some quick work with an arming-sword stopped her blows connecting on Spykoran in turn.

As Spykoran unlimbered a shield and stepped forward, she backed – still with an arrogantly superior grin. "Foolish dragon. None can stand against the might of a Nightmare."

"If I didn't try, then I'd have nothing to be proud of," he rejoined, and lunged. The arming-sword skipped off a quickly conjured gemstone kukri, which was joined by a second and a scimitar as the Nightmare continued to back.

The musical clash of steel on sapphire filled the square as dragon and alicorn fought back and forth. Spykoran used his shield to fend off blows from gem-blades, trying to stop the trio of them from having a chance to attack simultaneously, and occasionally sent one flying into the middle distance with his sword. When that happened, he tried to use the opening to strike at his foe – but, canny as she was, Nightmare Rarity kept her distance as best she was able and most such attempts to press the attack had to be abandoned as the deflected sword returned.

But the stalemate couldn't last forever, and all at once the pace of the battle changed. Nightmare-Rarity brought all three blades in for the concerted assault Spykoran had been so assiduously avoiding – and he swept the arming sword around in an arc, smashing one to pieces and knocking the other two to sink deep into the ground.

The Nightmare growled, conjuring bows and gem-tipped arrows out of the aether. Firing three at once, she unleashed an arrow-storm.

Spykoran raised his shield, but that wasn't really necessary, as his sword hand moved in a series of swooping curls that just _happened_ to intercept every arrow and knock them off course.

Nightmarity didn't relent in her barrage, instead dividing focus to lift one of her blades from the ground it had become lodged in and send it spinning at his back-

And he caught it. Three quick steps, and the sizzling gem-scimitar was held threatening her neck. The arming-sword was at her side.

Nightmare Rarity's eyes narrowed…

And then she took a forward step of her own, and caught the dragon with a fierce kiss.

"Harmony's six _sides_," she gasped, coming up for air, "but you are _dashing_!"

"Wait, what?" several of the watching ponies said, startled enough to speak.

Rarity and Spike ignored them, vanishing in a teleport.

* * *

A minute or so later, Twilight's voice raised above the confused hubbub. "It's okay, everypony! I checked – Rarity isn't evil, they were just... practicing for a play, I think Spike said, and things got a bit out of hand."

After another few seconds of talk, the general reduction in noise level seemed to indicate that this was acceptable.

"They totally weren't," Dash noted quietly, as Twilight walked back out of the crowd.

"Well, yeah," Twilight allowed. "But do _you_ want to try explaining exactly what we just saw?"

"…yeah, good point," Dash said. "Mind having a word with them to make sure their acting quality is a bit… well… less showcased? I think I saw a Wonderbolt patrol head off towards Canterlot."

Right on cue, the Princesses appeared in a flash of light and shadow.

"Twilight!" Celestia said without preamble. "What happened? Which of your friends got corrupted? We need to find some way to use the Elements without them, or-"

Luna had been looking around. "The town seems very intact. Didst though remember the right address?"

"What – of course I did, Luna!" Celestia said, stung. "This is Ponyville, where my most trusted student lives, of course I remember where it is!"

Twilight waited a moment as the two Royal Sisters began bickering, then shrugged and walked off. With a bit of luck, the whole issue would just quietly go away.

She would need to have that word with Rarity and Spike about cover stories, though…

* * *

23.6

"Huh." Twilight looked this Loop's body over. "I would appear to be male."

Aside from that, though, Twilight – or, as her memories started to come in, 'Dusk Shine' – was his/her normal self. And based on more of those memories, everyone else was the same as they were in a normal Loop.

That is, the same gender. Twilight/Dusk got a brief headache trying to keep pronouns straight, then decided to just hang continuity of self reference and call himself male for the duration.

There was a knock at the door.

"Coming!" Dusk said, still alert for any discrepancies. He'd been looping far too long to assume there was _only_ one change in a given world – that kind of assumption got you blindsided by Old Mare Henderson.

Upon opening the door, it turned out to be the Element of Laughter.

"Hi, Pinkie-"

Dusk's contingent shield triggered, pinging half of a crowbar off the doorframe as a swing at her legs was abruptly halted by the spell.

"Okay, what the…?" Dusk mused, as Pinkie stared at the truncated implement. "Pinkie, why the hay did you just take a swing at my…" Dusk's mind did a minor backflip as he realized just where Pinkie had to have been aiming, and then the whole 'male' thing shocked him all over again, "…aherm."

"Hey, no fair!" Pinkie looked Dusk up and down. "You're off script!"

"Script?" Dusk repeated, dumbly. Pinkie was usually strange, but _this…_

True to form, the pink pony pulled a set of close-typed pages out of her mane. "See? Right here."

Dusk skimmed the page. "Er… hang on a second." He flipped back, then cast a spell to absorb the whole content of the sheaf of paper in one go.

"…this would appear to be a script for Love Hina, with different character names and the addition of a crowbar."

"Yeah?" Pinkie asked. "So? That sounds about right."

"I hate worlds like this…" Dusk sighed deeply. "Okay, buck this. Get Spike to send me a letter if there's an actual serious threat, otherwise I'm going to be sunbathing without the interference of atmosphere."

"You can't do that!" Pinkie protested. "We don't have the beach episode for another three weeks! Besides, how are we going to do the eventual character development where I learn that hitting random stallions in the nuts is wrong?"

The unicorn shrugged. "Why not do the final episode, skip everything else, and then just drop the whole subject?"

Pinkie seemed to be thinking it over, her face screwed up in an internal battle.

Dusk's horn lit. "Get Spike to let me know what you think of the idea."

A bright flash, and he was gone.

* * *

"Art thou not Dusk Shine?" Luna asked, frowning at the unicorn sprawled out on top of her lunar sand-castle.

"Yep," the Anchor replied. "I love air bubble spells, by the way. Really useful. Oh, out of curiosity, do you find me physically attractive in any way, shape or form?"

"Nay!" Luna said, shivering. "Thine age, physical if not mental, is far too young for my comfort."

"Cool." Dusk put his sunglasses back on. "Sorry for taking over the castle, it probably took you quite a lot of work."

"'tis no problem," Luna assured him. "I was thinking on adding a new wing in any case. It is a soothing past-time."

* * *

"The Great and Powerful Trixie questions this script," Trixie said, having finished reading it. "Why is she required to be hit so much?"

Pinkie shrugged. "I dunno, but it's in there. Hey, you'll just be wearing an illusion, right? No actual vulnerables to hit."

"Let Trixie maintain a permanent shield spell and get top billing, and you have a deal."

They shook on it.

* * *

23.7

"Well, this is interesting!" Cadence said. "Kind of the reverse of normal – or, well, the reverse of the first time, anyway."

Twilight nodded, seeing her point.

It was another one of those loops where she and another pony were the Royal Sisters, meaning that they had to defeat Discord and subsequently run Equestria.

"Although you're older than me," Cadence added. "Not fair!"

"I'm not _much_ older." Twilight looked herself over. "And what does that matter, anyway?"

"You'd get it if you grew up with a sibling closer in age to you."

"And… you do?" Twilight asked.

"Well, no." Cadence shrugged. "So my whole point doesn't actually go anywhere."

Twilight shook her head, sighing.

"Okay!" Cadence clapped her hooves. "How are we dividing this up?"

The purple alicorn thought for a moment. "What about… arts, sciences and humanities?"

"Go on…" Cadence said.

"I handle the science stuff – you know, physics and weather and so on; you do the arts and culture side, and for things that are a mixture we share." Twilight waved a hoof. "Best I can come up with."

"Alright, that seems sensible."

"Just… a warning," Twilight added. "Every pony who's been with me on one of these has overdone something. I don't want to see you getting out that Dating Simulator thing again."

"Never crossed my mind," Cadence mumbled, not looking Twilight in the eye.

After a moment, Twilight let it go. "Alright, then."

* * *

"Alright, fair enough," Twilight admitted, watching Chrysalis and Sombra go down the aisle. "That does solve two problems at a stroke."

"Thank you," Cadence replied, beaming. "I do love a good wedding… even when it isn't mine."

"Are you _sure_ you're coping alright?" Twilight asked anxiously.

"Positive."

Twilight turned away, and missed a slight eye twitch.

* * *

"Cadence…" Twilight asked slowly, "Why do you have calendars all over one wall of your room?"

Cadence blushed slightly. "Well, I noticed last year that your parents still got together. And, well…" The blush deepened.

"Right, gotcha," Twilight nodded, spotting her brother's eventual birth date on the calendar up at the far left – and, down at the far right, his date of maturity. "Kind of creepy, but if it's how you're coping then I suppose it's not _too_ bad."

* * *

"Sorry?" Shining said, blinking. "Could you repeat that?"

Cadence asked him out. Again.

"Er…" his eyes took on a distinctly hunted look. "I'm flattered, really I am, but… I can't help thinking of you as the thousand-plus-year-old Princess of the Arts."

The alicorn's eye twitched. "I see. Thank you for your time."

She vanished in a teleport.

* * *

"Cadence!" Twilight said sharply, shading her eyes against the glow of magic. "I said _not_ to break out the Dating Simulator!"

"I know you did," Cadence replied casually, "but it's the only way to make sure I marry Shining Armor!"

"Calm down!" Twilight tried to get some handle on the current status of the spell engine as she spoke. "This won't solve anything!"

"I beg to differ." Cadence shrugged. "Besides… it's kind of too late to turn it off."

Twilight facehoofed. "Oh, _brilliant_."

* * *

"So, anyway," Cadence concluded, "after that, the Dating Simulator went off. Only problem was that I… sort of forgot the restrictor."

"Which does what?" Shining asked, with a kind of horrified fascination.

"That's the bit which trims romantic possibilities back to one per pony." Cadence tapped a forehoof on the floor. "Every individual combination would have made the ponies happy, just…"

"Yeah, I can imagine." Shining nodded. "How bad was it?"

"I believe Big Macintosh was assigned about fifty potentials, and then the valves started to explode." She gave an awkward smile. "Still… not too much harm done. And the moon _did_ look good with me on it."

Shining shook his head. "Right, at least we all learned an important lesson."

"Which is?" Cadence asked, frowning. "I mean, there's several I can see. Like to use transistors and surge protectors."

"Well, the main one is to not under any circumstances let you go without either me or a hefty supply of romance novels." Shining nuzzled his wife. "You're just _too_ romantic. And while that would normally just sound like something which wasn't really a problem at all, it is when you try to enforce it."

"Got it." Cadence looked down. "Sorry."

"It wouldn't have been as much of a problem if you'd managed to hold out another few years, I suspect," Shining added, "since the Elements would have formed by then. And you _did_ hold out longer than any pony else so far."

"Going to try to break my record?"

"I was considering it…" Shining winked, and Cadence thwapped him in the flank with a wing. "And I hope you dismantled the Dating Simulator."

Cadence gave him a puppy-eye look. "Do I have to?"

He just looked at her.

"Fine."

* * *

23.8

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!" A pegasus stallion with a sunglasses-wearing flame for a cutie mark drummed his hooves on the floor. "Come on, people, where's the action?"

"Er, Kamina?" A similar-looking unicorn with a drill for a mark said. "We only just got here, and… it might be kind of impolite."

"Ah, I gotcha." Kamina shook his head. "Still, there better be something soon. Besides, Simon, have you _ever_ had a quiet loop?"

"Now you mention it…" the second pony grinned. "No, not at all."

"And at least you're not taller than me this time…" Kamina mused.

"I am." Simon pointed. "Look. This horn thing puts me about half an inch taller than you are."

"Doesn't count." Kamina shook his head.

"How can it not count? It has a spiral pattern!"

"In that case," Kamina spread his wings. "Gotcha now!"

Simon grinned again, and held up a hoof. "You always win."

"You know it, bro!"

There was a skidding sound.

"Hi, new ponies!" Pinkie Pie said, beaming, as she halted in front of them. "What Loop are you from?"

"Only the most awesome loop in the history of time!" Kamina and Simon shouted together, having rehearsed.

A blue blur resolved itself into Rainbow Dash. "Did I hear somepony mention the word awesome?"

"Sure did!" Kamina looked her over. "I like the cut of your jib, fellow flying horse thing."

"Pegasus," Dash answered easily. "What's a jib?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to say I don't know that one." Kamina looked over at his fellow looper. "Simon?"

"Something something ships," that unicorn deadpanned.

"Fair enough."

"Hey, guys!"

They turned, seeing an earth pony galloping towards them.

"I thought it was you!" the earth pony said, as she slowed to a stop in front of them. "Hi, other loopers. I'm Yoko Littner, and I'm the one who keeps these two doofs out of trouble."

"How does that relate to a rifle?" Dash asked, looking at her cutie mark.

"That's because she uses the rifle to cause trouble that she then keeps _us_ out of," Simon joked.

A flash of light and a cloud of smoke erupted twenty feet away.

"Trixie… senses… awesomeness!"

* * *

Celestia stood on the balcony of the library next to Twilight, and together they watched a giant robot get into a fist fight with the moon.

"What is this, I don't even…"

Twilight shrugged helplessly. "Hiccup did warn me about those two, but apparently he understated the case. It doesn't help that they and Yoko managed to meet the three most compatible personalities our world has to offer, of course." Especially when that seemed to have got the Elements working somehow.

Celestia gave a slightly stunned nod. "Every time I think I am used to the infinite variety of the universe, something like this happens."

* * *

23.9

Academic Excellence (Stainless Steel Fox)

"I guess you're all wondering why I called you here today." Rainbow Dash looked over the group of pegasi she'd assembled at her cloud house.

"Yeah?" Snowflake asked, in a normal voice for once. The six ponies weren't all on the weather team, though of course they all knew each other more or less. It hadn't been too long since the Hurricane Season.

"I happen to know you've all applied to the basic training course at Wonderbolts Academy." Dash smirked. "So have I."

"How could you know about that?" Cloudchaser gave her a puzzled look.

"I have my ways…" Dash wasn't going to tell them that they almost always the ones who got picked in every loop.

"Don't tell me you don't want the competition!" Thunderlane exclaimed.

"Hardly!" Rainbow grinned. "Besides, you guys aren't competition, unless any-pony's feeling lucky…"

Nobody was willing to take that bet. Dash sighed. "If anything I want to help you get better, be more awesome… unless you just want to take it easy and cruise through it, it's up to you. I know a lot of ponies apply just to be able to show they could get in. Kind of a fillip on any-pony's resume."

"What are the chances we'll all get in anyway?" Cloudchaser was pacing around Dash's living room. "I mean sure you're a horseshoe-in, but we don't have your skill, or your connections."

Dash actually frowned. "If I can't get in on skill alone, I'm not going. But I think you guys impressed Spitfire during the Hurricane Day. For that matter, you impressed me. Getting back up in the air after it fell to pieces the first time took guts and stick-at-it-ness. I figure you've all got a good chance. I just want to see every-pony makes the most of it."

That made a couple of the ponies, who'd been wondering what was in it for Dash, feel a bit ashamed. Rainbow Dash had her faults, but no-pony could say she wasn't loyal to her friends.

Dash seemed to read what was going on in their heads. "I'll admit there is something in it for me. I can kick out a top solo performance, blow the instructors wings off, but there's more to being a Wonderbolt than just being the most awesome flyer. You've gotta work as part of a team. If every-pony from Ponyville turns up and works together, and gets the highest scores across the board, it'll show I can lead a team, and get the best out of other ponies.

"It's not that different to Weather Patrol, just bucking out a performance at a higher level. Spitfire seemed pleased at the way I handled the Tornado drill, but I want to prove to her it wasn't a fluke. I had an awesome team backing me and giving it everything they had then, and I hope we can do it again. So, if we do this, you guys get better results from your training course, and I get to show I'm more than an incredibly awesome solo flyer. Every-pony wins! "

She looked around. "So, are you guys in?" She held out a hoof and after a fraction of a second, the other hooves covered hers. "Okay, then we're going to do this, and it's going to be awesome!"

"YEAH!"

* * *

The cadets were lined up waiting to meet Spitfire. She walked past as usual.

"Well lookie what we got here. Betcha'll think you're Wonderbolt material, don't ya?"

Every-pony except Lightning Dust, who yelled out, "Yes ma'am!", instead said, "Not yet ma'am!"

That rather de-railed her standard 'I am drill sergeant nasty' speech. Still she recovered quickly. "Oh, so we have a class of wise guys, do we?"

She eye-balled Cloud Chaser. "Are you a wise guy, rookie?"

The weather pony would have quailed, if she hadn't already spent hours getting the exact same thing from Rainbow Dash. Dash had warned them all about this, suggested some standard responses, and she wasn't going to let the team down, though her eyes did flick towards the rainbow pegasus. She stood up straight and snapped out. "No, ma'am! Not a guy ma'am!"

"Think you're hot stuff?" Spitfire eye-balled Snowflake, who also remembered what Rainbow Dash had drilled into them, and didn't flinch. "NO MA'AM!"

Spitfire brushed back her mane into place and put on her glasses. Though she kept her expression stern, inwardly she was quite impressed. She could generally intimidate at least some of the rookies, but this lot seemed to have some grit to them. Though she suspected she knew who'd been the source of it all.

Stopping by Rainbow Dash, she gave her the best top sergeant stare she knew. "You look like you're the worst flyer in the whole academy! You'll probably quit after the first day!"

"No ma'am! I've been training for this since I was a foal, ma'am!" Rainbow Dash couldn't honestly say she'd never quit, as she had the first time round.

"Let's hope you learned something then." Spitfire gave a tight smile and moved on to the one non-Ponyville pony, Lightning Dust.

"Ha. What about you? Bet you couldn't fly past the first flagpole without getting winded."

Lightning Dust was her usual self. "Try me ma'am."

Perfect. She gave them 500 laps to prove themselves, and was surprised again that none of the Ponyville contingent complained. She didn't expect it from Dash, but the others…

Rainbow Dash asked, "Is this a race ma'am?"

Oho, sounded like Dash wanted to spread her wings too. "No. You'll have plenty of chance to compete later."

Despite that, Lightning Dust had shot into the air and was making a maximum speed run, but Dash hadn't followed her. Instead she was taking it slower. It was a few seconds before the Wonderbolt realised what the rainbow pegasus was doing. She was checking on each of the other ponies as she went past them, checking to see they were good to go, and giving them a wing-waggle of encouragement. It was only after she'd seen to each of them that she suddenly kicked up the velocity and started lapping them, though not as efficiently as Lightning Dust.

That was odd, with the amount of effort she was putting out, she should be getting more speed… oh, now that was interesting. Some of the power was going into creating a trailing vortex wider than she was, and the other Ponyville pegasi were sliding in to catch it and gain an extra boost of speed as she went past them.

While they wasn't making anywhere near the speed Lightning Dust was putting out, as a group they were going faster than the slowest ponies could have managed on their own, and at that trick must take quite a bit of teamwork to maintain, not to mention both skill and power on Dash's part. Maybe she _hadn't_ been asking for a race.

Lightning came off the course first, and looked back with a bit of derision. "Finished, ma'am!"

"Not bad for a rookie." In fact she was pretty sure Lightning Dust had made one of the fastest ever times for a new recruit. "You're dismissed, go get something to eat, you're going to _need_ your energy for tomorrow."

The rest of the new draft landed not much later. She was almost certain that they'd set a new record, for the fastest time for a whole class of cadets completing the five hundred. They landed in a line and pulled off an attention pose as well as any Wonderbolt. She waved them to the mess hall, but stopped Dash.

"Well, rookie, what was that in aid of?"

"What was what ma'am?" Dash started at a point two inches behind her right ear, in the traditional 'enlisted pony trying not to answer a direct question' pose.

"Your little stunt with the vortex drift? Did you really think I wouldn't notice?"

"No, ma'am!" Dash tried to suppress a grin and mostly succeeded. "However it wasn't a race, so there was nothing wrong with other ponies taking advantage of another pony's air-wash to get around the track faster, ma'am. There was also nothing wrong with not going at my best speed, was there ma'am?"

"Hmm…" Spitfire was quite enjoying this. This Dash was a lot less fan-girlish then the pony she'd met at the Gala a couple of years ago. She was taking quite a risk to effectively prank Spitfire, but somehow Spitfire didn't feel it was because she thought she could take liberties due to the whole 'having your life saved' thing. "I'd have thought you'd take the opportunity to prove yourself."

"Yes ma'am. Was ma'am. Just not my speed ma'am."

It was clear, as if it hadn't been before, that the whole thing was a set up. However, Spitfire, despite the demeanour she put on for the Academy, appreciated a good prank as much as any-pony. On Rainbow Dash's part, organising it, anticipating Spitfire's reactions, and simply having the brass hooves to pull it off demonstrated a lot of guts, initiative, and leadership, as well as skill. But she needed to make sure her authority wasn't being eroded.

"And if I give you another thousand laps to give you the chance to show your full speed?"

"Yes ma'am! Ready to go ma'am." Rainbow raised her wings and tensed for take-off.

Spitfire was tempted to make good on it, simply to see what she could do, but there was a difference between establishing the chain of command and being petty. "You'll have plenty of chance to show off tomorrow, cadet. Hit the mess hall, you're going to need your strength."

* * *

As Rainbow Dash collected a meal from the mess hall counter and made her way over to the other Ponyville cadets, she got one or two sympathetic looks, which turned relieved at her cheerful expression. Before any-pony else could speak, Lightning Dust piped up.

"Heh! Last one in? Well, I guess not every-pony can keep up that kind of speed. Not that you were as fast as me anyway."

That got her some acid looks from the other cadets.

"Huh! Dash could run rings around you on her worst day if she wanted too!" Cloudchaser exclaimed.

"It's okay guys, I've got this." Rainbow Dash waved them down with a wing. "I'm Rainbow Dash. And you are…?"

"Lightning Dust, as in I move like lightning and leave every-pony else in the dust!" The yellow and green pegasus declaimed.

"Sounds awfully lonely out there on your own." Rainbow quipped. "Y'know, I wasn't trying for the best time, at least not for myself. My friends here and I are all from Ponyville, and we're looking out for each other. By the way guys, you did great! Perfect delivery, just what I'd hoped for, no, even better!"

That got a number of grins and pleased looks from the Ponyville cadets, and Thunderlane and Milky Way even exchanged a high wing.

"What?" Lightning Dust looked around at the other ponies. "What're you talking about?"

"There was a good chance that Spitfire was going to come out with something like 'are you good enough'. Answer 'yes', you get told you aren't, answer 'no', you get 'why are you here then?' So we came up with some alternatives."

"You pranked Spitfire?" Lightning Dust's eyes widened.

Rainbow Dash grinned, "_We_ pranked her, and because she's an awesome pony, she let it slide. Well, I almost got a thousand extra laps for it, but it would have been totally worth it. Likewise, I was giving these guys a vortex tunnel to take advantage of. None of us were pulling our maximum speed, because none of us want to risk having to drop out due to a strain injury when we've just got here."

"Uh huh… " Lightning Dust looked sceptical. "I always buck it to the max. If you don't push yourself, how can you get better?"

"I get you, but there's more to being a Wonderbolt than just being an awesome flyer. You're part of a team too, speaking of which, my friends over there are Thunderlane, Wildflower, Cloud Chaser and the big guy is Snowflake." As she spoke, she gestured to each pony. "Over here we have Milky Way and Raindrops."

Lightning Dust snorted. "Like I'm going to remember all of that!"

"Isn't hard if you care about doing it. An earth pony named Pinkie Pie taught me that." Rainbow shrugged, and dropped in between Lightning Dust and Raindrops. "Anyhow, we're going to rock this training course, and I figured you'd want in, from the way you were pushing it out there."

"I don't need any help rocking the course," Lightning Dust gave an airy wave of her wing. "I'm the best flyer in Los Pegasus, and I don't need any-pony slowing me down."

As little as a few hundred loops ago, Rainbow Dash would have made some hot retort about being the best in Equestria. However, with alicorn power levels to draw on, she really didn't have anything to prove. Besides, she understood the reason behind Lightning Dust's different attitude.

Whenever she raced against Lightning Dust, she marked herself as a peer, someone like Lightning herself, though obviously not as good, and therefore worthy of notice. Here she hadn't, and the fact that she cared more about the other ponies then trying to excel herself meant Lightning Dust had shoved her onto the mental pile, 'lame and loving it'. It was like Gilda all over again, why had she always attracted jerks as friends? Redeeming Dust wasn't one of her goals this loop, but she'd have to see what could be done.

In most close to original loops Lightning Dust wasn't kicked out of the Academy outright, even after she had her Lead pony badge stripped. Normally she got reassigned as Dash's wing-pony, and after she'd gotten the attitude knocked out of her, she could be pretty cool. She just needed to lose that 'win at all costs' mentality.

Her thoughts hadn't stopped her speaking when some of the other ponies bridled at Dusty's attitude. "Heh, suit yourself. Maybe you'll change your mind when you see what we can do tomorrow."

Lightning Dust left as soon as she'd finished eating, and almost before she was out of ear-shot, Cloud Chaser asked, "Why are you letting her talk like that? She's a complete jerk, and needs to be taken down a peg or two."

"She reminds me of me, not too long ago."

"You were never that bad!" Milky Way piped up.

Rainbow blew a stray hair out of her face. "Maybe, but it took being around Twilight and the others to teach me there was more to life than being the best I could be, or that loyalty to my friends, to other ponies wasn't the same as loyalty to Ponyville and my job. You saw her out there, she's an awesome flyer, but if she doesn't figure out the rest of it, she's never going to make a Wonderbolt.

"We've got each other, she's got no-pony else to rely on. I don't think her attitude has made her many friends back in Los Pegasus either. So she's decided she doesn't need them. I'm trying to get her to see she's wrong, but it won't work if we gang up on her, shut her out. By the way, thanks every-pony for following my lead on that. "

There was a chorus on the general theme of 'No problem' with added, 'You've got us this far.' Thunderlane added, "Besides, like you said, we'll show her what we can do tomorrow, on the Dizzitron."

Wildflower looked slightly nervous. "Ooh, I am not looking forward to that. What if I mess up?"

"Relax, just stick with what we've practised and do your best." She held up a hoof, brought it to a stop in mid-air, then dropped it and guided it down in a curve to sweep horizontal to the table. "Stop, drop and roll out. Trust me, Apple Bloom's mock-up was designed to the same spec as the real thing. You've done it before, I've seen you do it, and I know you have nothing to worry about."

Thunderlane scratched the back of his neck with a hoof. "Who'd of figured Applejack's kid sister was that good with gadgets?"

Rainbow Dash grinned to herself, thinking of how they'd freak out if they saw what the looping filly had in her underground garage. An alicorn didn't need a spaceship, but some of the space fighters she rigged up were massive fun to fly. She might take the time tonight to pop back there and see what she could take for a spin, or maybe just ride the wing while Scootaloo flew. No, best get an early night, she had a long day tomorrow.

* * *

Lined up in front of the Dizzitron, all the ponies except Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust looked slightly ill at ease. Rainbow Dash had decided to take her usual place, which should mean she'd be picked before Lightning Dust. She wasn't going to let the other pony's time affect her own performance either way. Spitfire was going through her introductory spiel.

"… Your task is to try and recover and fly straight again, as soon as possible. Once you have recovered you must come in for a smooth landing. Now, who's first?" Wildflower caught her attention. "You. You're up. "

"Me... I mean, yes ma'am!" The pink pegasus gulped and started towards the machine, suppressing a shiver. 'It's okay, it's just like back on Sweet Apple Acres. Stop, drop and roll out. Just pretend it's a fairground ride, a very fast, very scary fairground ride..."

As she strapped herself in, she looked back at the line of ponies and saw nothing but confidence from her fellows. She even saw Dash give her a wing-tip up before she pulled down her goggles, and heard the pegasus's voice from last night. 'You've done it before, I've seen you do it, and I know you have nothing to worry about.'

She felt some confidence return, if Dash thought she could do it, who was she to argue? She _could_ do this. Her voice was steady when she called out. "Okay, I'm ready!"

"Okay, go!" Spitfire called.

The Dizzitron started spinning her, and she got the familiar feeling of her stomach wanting to leave her body through one of many convenient exits. But... it was nothing she hadn't felt before. Her confidence started to grow. Actually doing this was a lot less scary than thinking about doing it. She tucked her head in, pulled her wings and legs in tight, closed her eyes and focussed...

"Release!"

She was flung away through the air... this wasn't even as bad as when the hurricane collapsed.

'Stop...'

Her wings snapped out along with her legs, and the change in angular momentum combined with the air resistance of her wings as she pushed weather magic through them slowed her wild tumble. However, she still didn't open her eyes, just folded her wings back and let herself fall.

'… drop...'

She felt the wind rush past her and guide her body into line with the fall like a shuttlecock. Finally she could open her eyes, and saw the ground was still an acceptable distance below.

'… roll out.'

Having built up air speed, she used the wind rather than her still off kilter sense of balance to orient herself and opened her wings out to a glide, pulling a curve that brought her in to scrape her hooves against the runway. She trotted out and came to a stop as her head stopped spinning. She even found the will to look over towards Spitfire without throwing up.

"Nine seconds... Acceptable." Actually the Wonderbolt leader was quite impressed. Nine seconds wasn't an amazing time, but it was better than ninety percent of recruits managed on their first run. Of course, it was quite clear from the practised way she'd reacted that this wasn't her first run, and Spitfire was fairly sure who'd made sure of that.

She must have been taking a lot of notes that time she came there as her reward for winning the Young Fliers competition. Not that the details of the training routine was classified or anything, but it wouldn't have been simple to get. Spitfire added another tick in her mental check-list of the rainbow pegasus's talents. Good intel made for safer flying.

Wildflower hadn't heard the faint praise. She reverse punched the air. Yes! She'd beaten the ten second barrier, her best time ever! As she returned to the line, she sneaked a grin towards Rainbow Dash and got a pleased smirk and another wing-tip up in return.

"Rainbow Dash, since you're fidgeting, you're clearly eager to go!" Spitfire turned her gaze on Dash.

"Yes ma'am!" Dash kept her grin. "But if it's all the same to you, could you turn that doohickey up to top speed?"

"Really?" Spitfire didn't actually know why she was surprised. If any-pony was going to want to go all the way, it was Dash. But that speed was what she and the the other active Wonderbolts members trained on. "It's your funeral."

Rainbow Dash seemed completely unconcerned as the level was switched all the way over. The device spun up to ludicrous speed, and at Spitfire's command, they triggered the release. There was a crack and an explosion of miniature rainbows from the hurtling figure as her wing-tips extended at more than the speed of sound, and the single flap she gave didn't just arrest her motion but sent her bulleting back towards the runway with a rainbow contrail.

She landed with another crack as the macadam of the runway crunched slightly under her hooves leaving a visible mark. Spitfire had expected something exceptional, but that had her so flustered, she almost forgot to stop her stopwatch. "Three point two seconds?!"

Dear sweet Celestia! Spitfire's own best time was four point six, and the best time ever recorded was three point nine. Still she couldn't exactly say that. "That's an Academy record. Looks like you do have something on the ball, after all."

She noticed that the other ponies looked pleased except for Lightning Dust who looked like she'd flown into a cloud filled with rocks. Cloud chaser reached under her chin and pushed her jaw back up, which seemed to bring her out of her stupor. Interesting that they were happy for her despite the fact that she'd just blown them all right out of the sky with that performance.

What was more, Dash was just trotting back into line. Apart from a grin and a couple of slight nods of acknowledgement that Spitfire probably wasn't supposed to see, she wasn't making a big thing out of it.

Lightning Dust followed, and also chose the top speed, pulling a hoof-first drop and fly out in a respectable six and a half seconds. Most of the others were quite happy to throttle it back to regular speed, but none of them put in a performance of worse than ten seconds, even Thunderlane, who tried intermediate speed, and still managed a nine point seven. None of them ended up losing their balance or their lunch afterwards, either.

This group of recruits was shaping up to be exceptional group of trainees, and Spitfire was certain as to who's fault that was in all but one case. She considered what to do about that one case, who was currently glaring at Rainbow Dash. She'd have to consider what she was going to do about that situation.

"Listen up! For the rest of the camp, you'll be working in pairs. 'Morrow morning, I'll post the teams, including who'll be lead pony and who'll be wing-pony. Good luck."

She watched the group dynamic as she dismissed them, Dash was clearly the centre of attention, but she was equally clearly complimenting the others performances. Lightning Dust seemed to be left out on the edges, but the key was what happened when Dash turned to her and offered a hoof-bump. Lightning Dust just turned away and headed for the barracks.

Yes, something would definitely have to be done about that.

* * *

23.10

"Hi, Princess," Twilight said, trotting into the throne room. "I – oh."

"Hello!" Cadence said from the throne, passing some just-signed papers over to an official. "Nice to see you."

"You too," Twilight replied, nodding. "Only… I was expecting to find Princess Celestia. Any idea where she is?"

"What, don't you love me any more?"

"That's my brother's job these days, isn't it?" Twilight replied.

"Fair point," Cadence agreed, incidentally confirming a number of rumours in front of witnesses. "And no, she just asked me to spot her for the Summer Sun celebration."

That _was_ interesting. Cadence wasn't Awake this time, but apparently Celestia _was_. And… no, there wasn't enough information to go on.

"Well, if I can't find her I suppose I'll have to make do," Twilight mock-sighed. "How have you been?"

"Still learning the business of ruling, actually," Cadence replied. "Celestia was kind enough to mostly clear the decks, though, so it's not too onerous. I'm sure it amounts to a test."

Twilight nodded along. "Sensible."

* * *

Nightmare Moon crept along corridors, seeking her sister. At first she'd thought her goal might be Ponyville, but further investigation had revealed that the alicorn to be appearing there was a stripling she'd never heard of.

The Nightmare idly pondered if perhaps this 'Cadence' was some by-blow of Celestia's or something, then brushed the thought off as she reached Celestia's private chambers.

There was a sign dangling on the door.

Frowning, Moon squinted at it. "Gone… surfing?"

* * *

Celestia blazed across the night sky in a corona of plasma, her tungsten and carbon-carbon surfboard humming as it dissipated reentry compression heating.

"Hmmm, not as good as I was expecting…" she said critically, adjusting the angle of attack minutely. "It's all much of a muchness. So much for the idea that the night would bring different pressure."

Movement caught her eye, and she focused a complex scrying spell to zoom in.

Well, that was interesting. By luck, it appeared she was on a rough interception course with a stealthily-flying Nightmare Moon.

Several plans ran though the Alicorn's mind. After some careful consideration, she selected plan G.

* * *

Nightmare Moon had the air knocked out of her by a near-sonic speed impact that hit her from her right rear.

"…eeeeeeeEEEEEEEEE SIS! So glad you're back!" Celestia's voice shouted, high-pitched with excitement.

The alicorn of darkness had been well prepared for battle, for rhetoric, for subtlety. Being glomped, however, was totally outside her expectations.

"_Celly?!"_

"Oh, Lulu, I missed you so much!" Celestia said, still gleeful, and hugging the other alicorn so hard her ribs creaked.

Then the princess of the day frowned. "Hey, do you remember how to slow down? 'cause we're about to hit a tree."

FLUMPH.

* * *

"This is so much fun!" Celestia said, grinning. "I get to act like the little sister for once!"

"I still don't get how you fixed her…" Twilight muttered. "I mean, about all you did that I can see is you body-checked her into a tree."

"I _glomped_ her, Twilight," Celestia corrected, still smiling. "Hugs fix everything."

"Fair enough." Twilight looked over at the confused Princess Luna. "Hey, should I tell her there's a twig in her mane?"

Celestia shrugged. "I think it looks nice."

* * *

AN:

So, notes.  
1) Temeraire.  
2) More D&D (specifically, 3.x). Fluttershy is a druid, hence the most powerful party member by a good long way...  
3) Bleach.  
4) Trololol?  
5) Combine a certain issue of the comics with two rather strange romantic loopers... also, a dragon with the traditional weapons of a knight. Irony?  
6) Love Life of Dusk Shine.  
7) The Dating Simulator is essentially a repurposed Infinite Tsukuyomi (from Naruto) in concept.  
8) Gurren Lagann.  
9) Yes, Stainless Steel Fox is quite prolific.  
10) Plan G is "plan Genki Girl". Now imagine Celestia acting like Pinkie Pie all loop.

Also, and much to my surprise, this fic is now one of the examples on TVTropes for "groundhog day loop". In fact, it seems to have been picked as a good example of this kind of "loops" fic.

Any thoughts?


	24. Chapter 24

24.1

Sir Spykoran, Pandion Knight of the kingdom of Elenia, rode into Daros on his ridiculously evil horse Angel on a rainy night.

"Oh, stop it," he said without any real heat. "You're just showing off because Fluttershy isn't here..."

The big animal tossed his head, rolled his eyes, then surged forward again.

* * *

"So," he said, as someone who was a childhood friend this loop left the room, "what's up here, Twilight?"

Twilight, instructor of magic for the Pandion Knights, shrugged. It was easier than normal, since – like Spike himself – she was human. "Not all that sure. I do know that you're supposed to end up as a prince consort, but aside from that and that you need to save the queen, not much."

"I do?" Spike frowned. "How do you know that?"

"Two reasons." She reached into nothingness, and pulled out a large book. "First off, I found this in my fiction stash."

"The Elenium." Spike took it and glanced at the back cover. "Neat. Good to have the guidebook for a new loop."

"Yes, and I'll be finished with it once I get a chance. But the other reason is the queen's name."

Spike scanned back through Loop memories. "Oh. Yeah, Queen Rarity is a fairly good hint."

"Exactly. Now, you're going to need to be quite the swordsman here. Up to it?"

A shrug. "Yeah, though I'll need to remember not to slip and start using something like Soresu again. Kind of over the top, right?"

Twilight giggled. "Actually, that might be quite funny. I don't think you're supposed to be able to deflect arrows."

"Sounds good. Anything else I should know?"

"Well… yes, actually." Twilight raised her hands, and spoke words in an arcane tongue.

With a pop, Nyx materialized on the sofa. "Hi, Twilight! Ooh, you're human again. So this is… Spike?"

"Good guess." Spike offered a hand, and Nyx put her hoof into it for a shake. "Nice to have you here."

"It's good to be here! Okay, basically, I'm the goddess of children here. Or the child goddess, or whatever… I stay young because when I'm young people give me treats more often-"

"Sounds about right," Spike interjected with a grin.

Nyx stuck her tongue out. "Anyway, Momma-Twilight is kind of my current high priest, so I'm with you all the way." She looked a bit embarrassed, then. "Hey, can you teach me how to turn into a human, Twilight? I'm gonna be kind of out of place…"

"Well, there is another option." Twilight pulled a blanket from her subspace pocket. "I could just have a riding pony."

"Yeah, no." Nyx crossed her hooves, and looked away with an ostentatious hmf.

"Okay." Twilight shrugged. "Right, we'll work on that tomorrow. I should show Spike where the Queen is before we get going on the Epic Quest™."

"…how did you do that?" Spike asked, frowning.

"Do what?" Twilight replied, covering a grin.

* * *

Spike gazed at the flawlessly pure crystal that held the frozen form of Queen Rarity of Elenium.

"…is it kind of wrong that I find both her and the thing she's in extremely attractive for entirely different reasons?" he asked absently.

Twilight blinked, then looked amused. "Down, boy. And you can't eat gemstones here, so don't try."

"Yeah, yeah…" he shrugged, still staring. "Can we take this crystal thing with us?"

"Glutton."

Spike chose to ignore that.

After a minute he frowned. "Hey, why don't we just let her out now?"

"Poison." Twilight shrugged. "Book says the only way to cure it is to pick up a thing called the Bhelliom, so off we go."

"Anyone coming with us?"

Twilight frowned. "The book has a list of people who come with us, but I honestly don't know if we need to bother. Just us is a lot faster, anyway, and we know where we're going. Hey, Nyx?"

A flash of dark-light. "Yeah?"

"Can you teleport us to… here?" Twilight pointed at a map.

"Yep! All aboard!" Nyx spread her wings and flared her horn-

* * *

"The hell is this thing?" Spike asked, squinting at the object of their quest. "This is the Bhelliom?"

"Actually, no," Twilight admitted. "The Bhelliom is supposed to be a big flower-shape in reddish sapphire. This… seems to be the Elements of Harmony crudely welded together."

"I was in a hurry, so sue me." Discord came out of the back room, only to see all three other Loopers present glaring at him. "Oh, what? You knew I was going to be here somewhere."

"No, actually, we didn't," Twilight corrected him.

"Okay, so maybe I forgot to set up that beacon thing-"

"Again," Twilight, her adoptive brother, and her adoptive daughter chorused. Discord was terrible at remembering to let others know he was in a fused loop… probably deliberately.

"…fine, then." Discord snapped his fingers, and time stopped. "Want to take it and walk back? I'm sure it'll confuse that creep Annias if you cure the Queen within a night."

"Yeah, alright." Twilight took a wand out of subspace. "Shall I take us back?"

"No, no, no…" The draconequus waved a finger. "You have to walk. And if you don't believe me, check that book again. It does you good."

He vanished before Twilight could try to strangle him.

Spike sighed. "Wish we'd brought Angel, now…"

* * *

Kalten opened the door, then blinked as Spike and Twilight trooped back in – both of them in ragged clothing and looking terribly unwashed.

"Where have you been?" he asked, sniffing and wrinkling his nose.

"Eosia," Spike replied, making a beeline for the baths.

"Very funny. I know you were on the continent, now where in this city where you?"

"No, that's as specific as he can be…" Twilight said, on her way past to the second bathing chamber. "We went a long way."

* * *

"Right…" Twilight slipped her hands through the central voids of two necklaces, then paused. "I can manage any two, possibly three, but that's about it without a Queen of the Moon. Spike?"

"Loyalty is easy… I think I can do Generosity, too," Spike replied, taking a deep breath.

Nyx appeared again. "I pick laughter!"

"You get it. And honesty, too." Twilight disentangled the elements, and passed them out. "I hope this works… we're kind of off script."

* * *

It took ten minutes – nine of them with Nyx going ewww and Twilight tapping her foot – before Spike and Rarity stopped kissing.

"Well, that was… interesting," Twilight managed. "Now, we do sort of have a little matter of an evil deity to cope with."

Discord slid into the room through a window, and got promptly blasted out again by Twilight.

"Pax!" he shouted, feeling his nose. "I tink you broke it…"

"You made us walk two thousand miles!"

"To end up at your door…" Discord sang tunelessly. He then coughed, as Twilight raised what looked like an Intelligent Device threateningly. "Yes, well. I can run Laughter just as well as anyone, and I think that irritating bunny that's currently a horse can operate Kindness-"

This time everyone snorted with laughter.

"Honesty, then. And if your little pony here can use Kindness, we have a full set." Discord folded his arms. "Look, I have competition here. And I have a lot more style than that debased moron Azash."

Twilight nodded, almost against her will. "I must admit, you do tend to prefer a joke to a human sacrifice."

Discord smiled with some old memory. "The old inflatable obsidian dagger trick gets 'em every time…"

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Twilight said loftily.

* * *

"What is the meaning of this?" Annias asked, looking around him. Surreptitiously, he tried to cast a spell, and nothing happened.

"Oh," Twilight gave a bright smile. "Spike and I retrieved an ancient artefact, walked the length of the continent, cured the Queen, and destroyed the Elder God Azash. And now I'd like to have breakfast."

"And what is that at the table?" The Primate of Cimmura pointed to Discord, who waved.

"A smart-arse," Spike answered glibly. "Oh, any objections to me and the Queen living in sin? Probably not, you've certainly got practise at it."

Annias's mouth opened and closed like a fish.

Then Angel kicked him in the back of the knee.

"Four out of ten for force, but ten for style and timing," Discord said, raising a glass of something which looked like petrol. "You're not all bad, you ill tempered nutcase you."

Angel trotted over and kicked him smartly in the ribs.

"I deserved that," Discord said without qualm.

* * *

Twilight kicked a studious-looking man in the shins, and then kneed him in the chin as he collapsed. "No thank you, Zalasta."

"But…" he gasped up at her.

She ignored him, and pretended not to notice when Discord started to paint clown makeup on him. "So much for that Power Behind the Scenes. Actually having the book to read does kind of short circuit a lot of plots… What now?"

Nyx appeared next to her. "I think the Tamuli Gods sound fun! They're kind of like Pinkie, only… no, there is no only. They're like Pinkie."

"Sounds good to me." Twilight looked over at Discord. "Take care of him for me, will you?"

Discord nodded, idly inverting Zalasta's magic. "Look for me… actually, no, having a schedule would be counterproductive. I'll be somewhere." A pause. "Probably." Another pause. "Actually, no, never mind, forget I said anything. Just do stuff and I might turn up."

* * *

24.2

"Twilight Sparkle!" Trixie boomed, appearing in Ponyville town square with a flash of sickly red light. Great, partially-there wings of ruddy light cast shadows on the walls, and a red amulet shone like a star at her throat. "I have returned, so come out and face me!"

After the standard-issue two minutes of utter panic, Twilight stepped from her house. Her own Element of Magic shone on her forehead, and it looked as though she had the faint hint of wings herself. "Trixie Lulamoon. I was expecting you."

"As you should have been!" Trixie pulled a book out of nowhere. "This is really good, but it's four weeks since I borrowed it."

"Actually," Twilight corrected, "four weeks and one day. It's overdue."

The last word there seemed to shake all the windows in Ponyville, for all that it was spoken in a whisper.

Trixie gulped, but tried to disguise it. "Well, what do you expect? I can't find any other copies of it!"

"That's because it's a first edition of a private printing. Only a hundred were made, because the pony doing it had to pay the full printing costs herself and they were high for so few – economies of scale. All the others are privately owned." Twilight took a moment to look the copy of On Palomino Station over. "At least it isn't damaged."

Her gaze tracked up to Trixie's eyes. "It is undamaged, isn't it?"

Trixie chuckled weakly. "Er… aheh… I was reading it in the rain?"

Twilight frowned. "I see." The Element of Magic flashed, and the spectres of wings hardened into solidity.

The blue unicorn held up the book as though it was a shield, and with a flash of red matched Twilight's transformation. "You can't fight me, I'm holding a book!"

Twilight picked it out of her grasp with telekinesis and sent it into the library.

"…oh." Trixie looked around. "No hard feelings?"

There was a bang as Twilight fired off a particle-beamer spell, which flashed off Trixie's shields. The blue alicorn spread her wings and took off. "It was only a bit of damp!"

"Overdue AND damaged!" Twilight shouted, taking to the air herself. "That's practically treason!"

The residents of ponyville blinked in the confusion, some of them looking after the rapidly receding combatants. It was about three minutes later that the explosions really got going.

* * *

"Thanks, Trixie," Twilight said that evening, in a restaurant in Cloudsdale. Both Loopers were under slight glamours, and compounding that by having exploited Star Swirl's last spell to turn into pegasi. "I was having trouble with a few ponies not treating books right."

Trixie nodded, taking another drink. "You are scary when books are involved."

Twilight shrugged, slightly uncomfortable. "Sorry about that, I think you ended up taking about three decades' worth of built up stress."

"Think nothing of it," Trixie assured, though her wings were still slightly open in an unconscious flight reaction. Noticing, she furled them more fully. "Anyway," she said, more naturally, "That book wasn't half bad. Bit formulaic, but…"

"I'll let Dash know," Twilight said with a grin. "Iris Drake is a pseudonym she uses when writing."

Trixie tried to reconcile the brash pegasus with a writer. Then she thought a bit more about the kind of book she'd been reading.

Restraint had not figured very much. A heroic pegasus captain capable of sonic rainbooms had – as, indeed, had a unicorn Marine mage with illusion speciality. "…oh! So that's who she based everypony off."

"Mostly." Twilight glanced around, mainly out of habit. "A lot of the stuff in there actually happened, a long time back. You do make a good Marine."

"Trixie is intrigued. And demands she gets a copy of the next book."

"Good luck," Twilight replied with a laugh. "She's been putting off that thing for a millennium."

* * *

"Well, that's better," Twilight said, noting the neatly stacked pile of returns on the counter. "Nothing like a bit of a friendly reminder to encourage ponies to behave."

Spike ran over. "Twilight, the Princess turned up while you were out. I told her what happened, and she… well, she left again, very confused. And wondering if she'd been drinking too much of something called moonshine?"

Twilight winced. Good thing I already thought of a cover story…

* * *

24.3

Twilight stifled a giggle, holding her hand over her mouth.

"Yeah, yeah…" Naruto Uzumaki muttered, as some of the other Anchors with less restraint than Twilight started laughing at him.

For whatever reason, this world had given all the Loopers present little animal ears and a tail, and otherwise enforced human body form. Some of them carried it off rather well, but the fox tail Naruto had ended up with was just too poofy to take seriously.

"Okay, what's the gimmick here?" Ranma asked, idly looking his own random cat tail over. "I mean, this can't be it…"

"Glad you asked!" said the local Anchor, Cinque. "This place has all kinds of strange rules, but number one is that death is impossible here."

"Impossible meaning…" Ichigo asked, having a lot of experience with the definition of words like 'die'.

"Basically, if you take what would otherwise be a lethal hit on a battlefield-"

There was a very big bang from the other side of the field. A smouldering cat with a lightning-bolt scar landed in front of them, uncurled, and then said something obscene.

"…that." Cinque pointed at the luckless Potter. "Usually you end up more chibi, but there's variance. It wears off eventually."

He looked around. "Though I have to say, this particular battlefield is huge. I've never seen one remotely this big…"

The Anchors exchanged sidelong glances.

"Wait…" Shinji said, slowly. "Does this mean a completely guilt free, no consequences-"

Lina Inverse acted first, rattling off the incantation to Dragon Slave in a little under two seconds, and then things got quite complicated.

* * *

Eventually, Twilight found herself in a smouldering crater four hundred feet deep, and back to being a unicorn.

"Gotcha!" Nanoha called from above, showing a V-sign and flying off.

Twilight frowned, then tested something. It worked.

Slowly, a grin spread over her face.

* * *

Nanoha was looking around for another target when a twinned, knock-off copy of her own Force Burst slammed into the back of her shield and sent her flying forwards.

Turning, she stabilized and looked for her attacker.

"Hi!" Twilight said brightly. "Did you know that my magic still works like this?"

Nanoha sent mental commands to Raising Heart, which switched into a rather more dangerous setting, and loaded in two cartridges. "Right, then. Rematch?"

Twilight nodded. "Sounds good. Besides, I want to be as far from there as possible."

A nod indicated somewhere about forty miles north, which seemed to be where Naruto, Ranma, Ichigo and Lina had congregated. Things just kept exploding.

Nanoha shivered. "Right. I don't fancy being a…" she took the time to actually look her accoutrements over. "…well, apparently I'd end up as a dog?"

"Nothing wrong with dogs."

"Yeah…" The human mage shrugged. "But I don't fancy using dog shampoo."

"That's silly." Twilight lit her horn, layering defensive spells and Ascending to restore her flight capabilities. "You know, I wonder if this world was an accident… it can't be normal to have this many Anchors around."

* * *

"Told you," Inari said smugly. "Naruto is clearly the best Anchor in a fight. As it should be."

Skuld scowled across the scrying pool. "It's not over yet, missy! Besides, if Ranma gets turned into a cat, that's just asking for the Neko-ken!"

The various deities who spoke for major Loops started squabbling amongst themselves.

In the corner, Loki chuckled. Noticing, an eight legged horse deity – Sleipnir – stepped over. "What is it, mom?"

Loki shook his head. "Don't call me that." The words didn't have any real heat to them. "Anyway, I was just thinking that my own champion of sorts in this little comparison has the best idea."

Sleipnir focused. "Oh, I see. The little Haddock would appear to be running for it. Is that allowed?"

"Yes." The God of Trickery clapped his son – it's complicated – on the fore right shoulder. "I wrote the rules, so of course it's allowed. Though I must say, that pony of yours is doing well."

"Twilight Sparkle has something of a flair, yes," Sleipnir allowed. "And it helps that she can't really be disabled here."

On the world of Flonyard, something very big detonated. The eight-legged horse winced. "I think that may, however, give her at least a headache."

* * *

24.4 (Anowack)

* * *

Twilight Sparkle had experienced many strange variations of her home loop in her countless years as a Looper. There had been loops where she awoke in a frozen world that had suffered Nightmare Moon's eternal night for a thousand years. There had been loops where Discord was the beloved ruler of Equestria and ponies thrived in his chaos. There had been loops where everypony's gender was reversed and loops where Celestia ruled the night while Luna claimed the day. Loops where Celestia had trained Twilight in the ancient art of pony ninjutsu and loops where Cadance had been her Unicorn Tennis coach.

Her long experience with this infinite variety usually gave Twilight more than enough equanimity to handle whatever new twists and turns each loop brought. If one loop's Shining Armor was a cold, distant brother, or if another loop's Twilight had never discovered her love of magic, Twilight could deal with it. Most such problems could be corrected, often without ever overtly breaking character as her pre-loop self, and those that could not could be endured for a brief lifetime. In the long run, very little of it mattered. It wasn't worth getting upset over.

This loop took less than a minute – just long enough for the first loop memories to finish settling in – to make Twilight Sparkle furious.

She awoke in a familiar location on the palace grounds, pouring over the legend of Nightmare Moon. This version, though similar in the broad strokes to the usual tale, contained no mention of the Elements of Harmony, but Twilight barely had time to consider that before the other, more disturbing changes came to her attention.

On her flank, where her familiar starburst should have been, was a patch of dull gray fur shaped in the image of Princess Celestia's sun. Twilight gaped at it for several long moments. When the solidifying loop memories told her what it meant, her face twisted and she stood, leaving the book of lore lying on the grass.

The brand marked her position as Princess Celestia's personal slave.

"Buck this loop," Twilight declared, and she summoned her Element of Magic to her forehead with but a thought, wings sprouting from her sides as the gray brand shattered and revealed her cutie mark. Their connection told her all five of her friends were Awake this loop. While on the one hoof she hated they had to see this loop's mockery of everything they loved, on the other hoof she would have hated having to deal with this alone.

Rainbow Dash was the closest, somewhere in Canterlot. Magic flared, and when Celestia's guards came to investigate the surge minutes later all they found was an abandoned, forgotten tome of legends.

* * *

"So... I take it we aren't playing along this loop, then?" Rainbow Dash asked the furious alicorn who had just burst through the wall of her – actually surprisingly luxurious – quarters in the back of a small estate just outside the palace.

"No, really," Twilight said dryly, flapping her wings once. "What was your first clue?"

"Good, because I was not planning to spend another minute owned by Prince Blueblood." A necklace appeared around the pegasus's neck and a moment later a horn grew on her head. "I think I was supposed to do something stupid tomorrow at the games tomorrow anyway."

Twilight forced herself to examine the distasteful loop memories. Celestia had been planning to attend the... ugh... gladiatorial games in honor of the thousandth anniversary of her victory over her sister, where as the main event reigning champion Spitfire was going to face a hot new fighter... "I think I would have been there," Twilight said.

"Yeah, I think I was going to try taking you hostage to bargain for my freedom," Rainbow said. She snorted. "I don't think I was really thinking things through very well."

Twilight Sparkle had gotten good at figuring out how loops were 'supposed' to go. "Pre-loop me was secretly studying teleportation magic," she said. "I bet she'd have used it to get both of us away during the confusion when Luna showed up." Then finding the others while on the run, probably discovering or creating the Elements, and a war against Nightmare Moon.

Two unicorn guards poked their heads in through the hole in the wall, horns glowing with explosive spells. Twilight casually teleported them through the palace wards and into Celestia's private restroom mere heartbeats before their spells finished casting.

"Where to?" was all Rainbow asked.

"It feels like Applejack is closest, probably in Ponyville. Fluttershy's not far... Everfree? And then Rarity and Pinkie Pie are up north somewhere."

Twin sonic booms shattered every window in downtown Canterlot as the two alicorns accelerated out of the city.

* * *

They found Applejack easily enough, near what should have been Ponyville but was instead a vast apple plantation owned by Filthy Rich. The orange mare insisted that they take the time to free her family – which Twilight didn't disagree with in the slightest, but which allowed a party of guards sent from Canterlot to catch up with them.

That had put an end to Twilight's hopes that she'd been hasty and Celestia was looping.

Fortunately, she'd been in the middle of testing a spell to remove the Apple Family's slave brands – which were actually fairly complicated constructs that packed a suite of tracking markers and punishment triggers along with what Twilight considered a "mini-Discording" that helped suppress rebellious emotions at the cost of also stopping the slaves from finding their talents and earning their cutie marks. It might have been fun to reverse engineer such a novel and complex spell if it wasn't a nasty abomination that went against everything pony magic should have stood for.

Even more fortunately, Celestia, or whoever her guard captain was (thankfully not Shining Armor), had not considered the difficulties involved with sending a guard force whose rank-and-file was enslaved to stop a nascent slave rebellion, and a mass variant of Twilight's new counterspell backed by the power of three alicorns sufficed to turn the bulk of the enemy to their side. (A just as powerful mass teleport sent the rest packing back to Canterlot.)

They'd met Fluttershy an hour later at the edge of the Everfree Forest, and after a brief discussion the four alicorns had relocated the freed ponies to the precarious haven of the Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters. Fluttershy had lived there as a fugitive slave for almost a decade; with any luck it would stay safe for the next few days.

With a promise to return shortly, they headed north in search of their two remaining friends.

* * *

Five alicorns (Pinkie Pie had joined them in mid-journey, already ascended) circled in the air above the black spires of the corrupted Crystal Empire, and Twilight Sparkle 's stomach was sick.

It wasn't the terrible dark crystal or the miasma of despair – she'd seen the Empire under Sombra's rule at least a dozen times, though this was the first time he ruled as Celestia's vassal. Nor was it the moon – which had lost the dark visage of the Mare in the Moon right on schedule and failed to set in the hours since.

It was the fact that half the banners below – and half the flanks of the crystal ponies who barely looked up to see the five ponies in the air above – bore Cadance's cutie mark. Celestia was bad enough, but to think that she would have to also see a slaving mockery of Cadance...

As if in answer to her thoughts, a pink figure launched herself from a balcony below.

Twilight steeled herself. Rarity was somewhere below, and for some reason had not yet ascended or joined her friends, but they could do this. Silently, without pointless discussion, the five Bearers fell into formation, horns alight. It might "only" be Cadance, but Mi Amore Cadenza was still an alicorn princess. They would have to strike hard and fast to end this without collateral damage.

Cadance halted in mid-air, eyes widening. "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake!" she shouted desperately.

"Clap your hooves and do a little shake," Twilight finished automatically, letting her spell wither away uncast. "You're looping?"

Cadance nodded, drawing closer with a hesitant beat of her wings. "Yes." She looked around. "Shining Armor?" she asked.

Twilight shook her head. "I don't know," she said. Her pre-loop self had not seen her family since her explosive magical awakening on the auction block at the Royal Canterlot Slave Market had attracted Princess Celestia's attention. Pinkie Pie (who had been running an underground railroad smuggling fugitive slaves to griffon territory) remembered helping her parents escape, but Shining hadn't been with them. "With any luck, we'll find him soon."

"Right," Cadance said weakly.

Twilight glanced down at the black city below. "Why..." She trailed off. Her loop memories only turned up scattered references to the Crystal Empire, and nothing on the current situation.

Cadance winced. "It's a long story," she said.

A cold wind carried a shadow through the alicorns, forming a familiar figure overhead, framed by the unmarred moon. Ethereal, black wings large enough to serve a small dragon beat slowly, and Sombra's crimson eyes glared down at the six mares, green fires burning around them. "What is this?" he demanded. "Wife?"

"Wife?" Applejack echoed disbelievingly. Cadance nodded weakly, her mouth twisted into a grimace.

"...I'm sorry, Cadance," Pinkie Pie said after a moment. "I don't think I can throw your anniversary party."

"There's not going to be one," Cadance said vehemently, shuddering. In a moment, Fluttershy had flown to her side, laying a comforting hoof on her side.

"All right, girls," Twilight said. "We can do this, no problem. All together."

Sombra looked confused – but not even a little hurt – when Cadance joined the other alicorns' formation instead of taking his side, but then he shook his head. "I have no idea what is going on, little mares, but this is sheer foolishness. Even with six of you, I am still SOMBRA. I am second only to Celestia herself in magic, and all the power of my slaves is mine to wield." A ball of darkness and green fire formed above his horn. "And if that is not enough to end your foolish hope, my treacherous wife should have warned you that I still hold this!" The globe of black flared, and when it receded it cradled a small object.

Rainbow Dash let out a snort of laughter. Twilight shook her head, smiling slightly.

Sombra just stared in disbelief at the heart-shaped hunk of stone that floated in his magic aura. It was elegantly carved, a perfect replica of the Crystal Heart... but still only a replica.

"Were you looking for this, master?" a new voice asked.

"Rarity!" Cadance cried in relief as the white alicorn rose up from the city below, the real Crystal Heart held in her own magic.

"You were just waiting for the right moment, weren't you?" Applejack commented. "Drama queen."

"Guilty," Rarity allowed cheerfully. "Cadance, darling," she said as she floated the Heart over to her, "we simply must come up with a system to tell each other when we're looping. The past day could have been much less stressful."

"How?!" Sombra demanded.

"I wouldn't mind knowing either," Cadance said. "It wasn't in the usual place; I checked there."

Rarity smiled. "It turns out my gem-finding spell works on it," she said, "at least when powered by Generosity." Her necklace gleamed in the pale moonlight, and Rarity glanced at Twilight. "We could have saved ourselves a lot of stress that way too, the first time."

Twilight smiled. "But Spike would have missed his chance to save the day." Rarity glanced around, and Twilight's smile faded. "I don't think he is born yet this loop," she said. Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns still existed, but only freeborn unicorns attended.

Rarity's eyes closed for a moment, but then she nodded. "All right. Let's get this over with."

Rainbow Dash's necklace flared bright red. "Right!"

Defensive spells gathered around Sombra.

Cadance held the Crystal Heart high. "Crystal ponies!" she shouted, her voice echoing throughout the city. "I do now what I should have done when I first came here! The Crystal Heart is yours once more! Use the light and love you have kept alive these past thousand years to end Sombra's reign forever!"

Confusion sounded throughout the city below, but within seconds the Heart began to shine, piercing Nightmare Moon's eternal night like a new sun.

"No," Sombra hissed, dark clouds of magic gathering to smother the Heart's light.

"Now!" Twilight shouted, and the Elements of Harmony flared with a multicolored light of their own. With practiced ease, Twilight directed their power, sending twisting beams of rainbow light into the Crystal Heart.

For several moments, even the alicorns were blinded by the brilliant glare of the magic they had summoned.

Below, the Crystal Empire was transformed, the dark and twisted spires becoming the glorious shining city that they had been long ago, before Sombra.

The dark king screamed defiance as the light consumed him. A great shadow persisted for an instant, but then scattered, dissolving to shreds and then nothing, leaving behind only a wailing, onyx crystal pony foal that slowly drifted to the ground in a cradle of soft magic.

Bands of rainbow light arced through the dark night sky, the magic of Harmony racing down ley lines to the far corners of an Equestria that had never known its touch, and as it passed overhead every last slave brand shattered.

After a moment's silent consultation with her friends, Twilight sent a message along, a plea to sound in the heart of every pony that would listen. "Cast off your chains, but shed no blood. Earth Pony, Unicorn, or Pegasus... former slave or former master... we are all ponies. We can be better than this."

* * *

Celestia and Nightmare Moon – apparently allied, a first for their non-looping selves – met the looping alicorns on a tall, bare hill several miles outside of Canterlot.

They didn't bring an army, but a scrying spell had shown Twilight that Celestia didn't have much of one anymore to bring. The slave troopers had simply left, and the rest of the guard was barricaded in their barracks. An expectant quiet had fallen over Canterlot – over all of Equestria. The sun had still not risen – a limit to how far Nightmare Moon was willing to compromise, no doubt – and the rainbow waves had dimmed only slightly, still visible to the magically unaided eye.

Everypony that lived knew that their world was changing forever, and they waited to see what it was changing into.

Neither Celestia nor the corrupt Luna were foolish enough to think that their first blow would end the fight, but the twin beams of brilliant solar fire and cold moonlight scattered their foes' formation and briefly suppressed their defenses. A powerful gravity spell forced the loopers to the ground before the two larger alicorns.

There was silence for a long moment as the opponents studied each other. It was Twilight's first time seeing this loop's Celestia with Awake eyes, and it hurt that she could see no difference from the mentor she loved so much.

The Princess of the Sun's eyes were hard, and though they widened slightly in surprise when they passed over Cadance, it was only when they met Twilight's gaze that she spoke. "Why, Twilight?" she asked, and the honest pain and confusion in her voice made Twilight shake. "Wasn't I a kind mistress? I raised you like my own daughter, taught you magic and gave you any comfort you asked for. Why this rebellion?"

The questions hurt all the more because they showed how far this Celestia truly was from the real one. "If you even have to ask," Twilight said, still shaking slightly, "I don't think you'd understand the answer." Her friends were at her side in an instant, lending comfort as they pressed against her.

"Surrender now," Cadance said, taking over. She held the Crystal Heart in her magic, and its glow still lived, beating in time to the prayers of the crystal ponies they'd left behind in the distant north. She grew to the full stature she'd earned over the countless years of looping, easily the match of Celestia or Luna. Her mane glowed in the dark night, moving in an unseen wind. "We are many, you are few, and my friends bear the most powerful magic known to ponykind." Celestia and Luna's eyes darted to the necklaces and Twilight's tiara, but showed no recognition. "Trust me," Cadance continued, "when I say that the weight of age and experience is on our side as well. You cannot win this battle."

Nightmare Moon laughed, her starry mane waving wildly around her. "And thou called me insane, sister?" she asked. "Enough. Let us put an end these upstart fillies and be done with this madness so my reign may begin."

Celestia took a deep breath. "Yes," she said softly. "But... please, if we can, let us spare Twilight Sparkle's life."

Nightmare Moon snorted, but she nodded. "Very well." Her eyes swept Twilight and her friends. "This is your last chance, little ponies, before you learn why my legend survived a thousand years."

Rainbow Dash snickered. "It's almost cute how you think you're more awesome than us." She shook her head. "Are you ready, Twilight?"

"No," Twilight said, "but that doesn't matter. Let's just finish this."

Celestia and her sister – even in her corrupted form – were ancient, powerful in both body and magic, and the veterans of countless battles. The mightiest dragons feared their wrath, and the heavens themselves moved or stilled at their command.

The battle lasted some time, but the royal sisters never had a chance. When it was done, Equestia had a brief moment to see two alicorn heads facing each other across the moon before Twilight Sparkle set it and summoned forth the delayed dawn.

* * *

The signature at the bottom of the letter that had come to Canterlot was enough to determine which of the Seven Harmonious Princesses would go to negotiate with the leaders of this particular band of escaped slaves wishing to return to Equestria.

Twilight and Cadance teleported to the meeting site, on the edge of the vast southern badlands, almost an hour early. That was maybe a mistake, because Cadance's impatience was unbearable, but soon enough Twilight spied a dragon flying toward them.

Cadance's horn lit, but a wave from Twilight stilled it. A vision magnification spell revealed two ponies safely carried in the crimson dragon's claw. (Twilight was fairly sure this was the same dragon that normally had to be discouraged from napping in the mountain above Ponyville. That was no doubt going to be an interesting story.)

Shortly, the dragon landed a small distance away, and lowered his claw to deposit his passengers before taking wing once more. While he circled overhead, the two ponies approached Twilight and Cadance. Twilight recognized one of them.

"Twily?" Shining Armor asked in disbelief, mouth hanging open as he stared at her and neatly answered the question of whether he was looping. "Is that... is that really you?"

Beside Twilight, Cadance was frowning at Shining's companion, but Twilight only had eyes for her brother. He was thin, and heavily scarred, but otherwise healthy, she concluded in relief. "Yes," she confirmed. "I'm your sister, Shining."

"...how?" Shining asked in disbelief.

"It's a long story," Twilight said, and she took a step forward.

That broke Shining's restraint, and he galloped forward, meeting Twilight in an embrace. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again," he murmured into her side, choking back tears. "I hated that I couldn't protect you that day."

"I know," Twilight whispered, wrapping her wings around her brother. "It's all right. It's all over now. We're together again."

After a long moment Shining wormed out of Twilight's grasp and sat back on his rear, legs shaking. "Our parents?" he asked, clearly fearing the answer.

"Safe, in Canterlot," Twilight was glad to say.

Shining stared up at her, disbelief warring with relief in his eyes. Then he laughed suddenly. "It's weird that you're taller than me, Twily," he said.

"And the wings?" Twilight asked, smiling.

"And the wings," Shining Armor agreed.

His companion chuckled, drawing Twilight's attention. Cadance was still staring at her, Twilight realized, and she took a moment to study the mare herself. She was a pink unicorn with bright green eyes and a dark mane, and her cutie mark was... a cocoon? Twilight started in realization.

"Ah, let me introduce you," Shining said, standing. "Twily, this is my wife, Chrysalis."

"The changeling queen?" Cadance asked in a strangled voice, breaking her silence.

The pink unicorn started. "You know?!" she exclaimed. Then she shook her head. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised you can see through my magic, though, since you beat Celestia." There was a flare of green, and Chrysalis's true form replaced the unicorn. She was much smaller than normal, though, around the same size as Shining. A part of Twilight wondered if that was choice or malnutrition due to true love being harder to find in this loop, but she was more interested in her brother's reaction.

He didn't show any surprise, shaking his head as he walked over to the changeling and kissed her on the cheek. "I'd hoped to break that piece of news a little more gently," he commented. As much as that, it was probably the adoring look in Chrysalis's eyes as she smiled at Shining that made Cadance shudder. "...is your friend okay, Twily?" Shining asked.

Twilight teleported to Cadance's side. "Deep breaths," she whispered harshly. "Deep breaths, Cadance. Remember, he's never met you and that isn't her. I don't want to have to send you to the moon too."

Cadance shuddered again, but that was all she did, at least.

Twilight's long experience with countless bizarre loops granted Twilight a certain equanimity. Her brother being deeply in love with – an apparently equally besotted and hopefully much nicer – Queen Chrysalis was far from the worst craziness she'd endured. Soon enough, it would just be another funny story to tell the looping Shining Armor the next time they met up.

...the hard part was going to be convincing Cadance to see it that way.

* * *

24.5

"The parliament calls on the honourable member of the Life Seat of Diamonds, Rarity of Ponyville."

"Thank you, Speaker." Rarity stepped up to the podium. "Honourable mares and stallions, I have only recently taken my position as a member of this august body, and hope to learn more than I already do about the running of our fine country. But with regard to the current topic under debate, I feel I must make my voice heard."

Several ponies who had sat back at the first sentence perked their ears up again. Maybe this wouldn't be a bit of on-the-record blather.

"We must first recall that, in a past that is not so very long ago by the standards of the proud race of dragons, we were not the united country of which we think today when the name Equestria is spoken."

Rarity's voice softened, but could still be heard throughout the room. "Equestria. An idea, one founded on a simple concept – let none be turned away. It is for that very reason that our parliament itself is made up the way it is."

A pause, then in a dry tone: "But I assume you already know that."

There were chuckles.

"It is true, perhaps, that when Equestria was founded those ponies in long-past days thought only of ponies. It should not surprise us – encountering others was rare. But that assumption has been cast aside many times in the past. Are not the deer of White Tail Woods given rights equal to any other citizen, should they chose to exercise them? They are indeed. And the same for the donkeys, the cows, the sheep… all those who live freely within our borders, a small but unique and treasured part of what makes Equestria."

Some of the members arrested movement that would have seen them turn to look at various other MPs. Such as the sole deer amongst them, a middle-aged hind from the area of White Tail Woods, for example…

Something inside Rarity was singing as she kept going. "Yes, Equestria is a land where all are welcome, as it should be. In this light, I propose that our reaction to the discovery of a new race beyond our borders should not be to gird ourselves for the threat of war, nor to ignore the issue and hope it goes away. No, I propose that our response – one to be sent as soon as time allows – is to empower an ambassador and open up normalized relations with these new acquaintances."

Her voice had risen with that last few lines, and she brought it back under control. "Perhaps I'm a little inexperienced, as I said. But I cannot help but remember the results of applying diplomacy in other recent crises this country has faced. Like Nightmare Moon and Discord, let our approach to Queen Chrysalis show that Equestria does not shy from acting decisively, and let our decision be one of quick and generous negotiation."

By mentioning those two threats, she was deliberately reminding the assembled chamber that she was directly involved in saving Equestria twice – and in both cases redeeming the hostile magical creature.

"That is all I have to say. I would only add, as a closing remark, that Equestria has traditionally destroyed her enemies – but not by destroying them, merely what makes them an enemy. It is how we have gained our fastest friends."

Going over it in her head, Rarity didn't think it was all that much of a speech… it was a lot harder to make one up on the fly than it sounded. But it got a lot of applause anyway, so maybe she was onto something.

A political career wasn't something she'd do every loop, not by a long chalk, but it was certainly different.

* * *

24.6 (Koolerkid)

* * *

Twilight had Awakened in a lot of strange places. In the ocean, in space, on the moon, in a sewer... she also had a tendency to Awake mid-stride, which was really annoying because even after an uncountable number of loops, she still nearly tripped almost every time. She found that the place you Awaken in can actually tell you quite a lot about the loop you're in, though it wasn't perfect. If she woke up reading the familiar book of prophecy, for example, she could expect that loop to be somewhat close to her base loop.

So when Twilight Awoke curled up in a dark corner of a dirty, dingy hovel with an equally dirty, dingy human girl staring at her, Twilight decided that this was going to be a depressing loop.

She was a human here, dressed in rags every bit as filthy and stained with ash and soot as everything else. Checking her loop memories, Twilight learned her name here was Twila, and that she was a runaway slave, or skaa. As a girl, her options were limited, so she and the girl she'd escaped with, named Vin, had become thieves. Vin was the girl across from her now; her brother had taught them the trade before abandoning them, as he'd continuously warned he would. They weren't exactly friends - Vin was too paranoid and pre-loop Twila was too cautious - but they were allies, at least.

Seeing her eyes open, Vin gave her a searching look. "New looper?"

Twilight gave a relieved sigh and nodded. "Twilight Sparkle, of Equestria. Are you the local Anchor?"

Vin nodded, and leaned back. "Yup. Welcome to Scadrial, the butt of the multiverse. Where the skies are a brilliant shade of ash black, the trees are brown, the people are either sheep or pigs, and our ruler is an immortal asshole."

Twilight winced at that. "That bad, huh?"

Vin reached into her subspace pocket and pulled out a slim brown book, handing it to Twilight. "See for yourself. I'm not much for books, but Elend thought making a summary of the way things work here would speed things up a bit. Just read fast; we don't have long before Camon shows up to drag us away on his idiot suicide mission, and I don't want to leave before I know what we're doing this loop."

Twilight nodded eagerly and snatched up the book. "Don't worry, I'm a fast reader." She opened the book, and sped her way through the pages. As she read, her eager smile dissipated into a frown. Rashek, the Lord Ruler, reminded her uncomfortably of some of the more unstable versions of Celestia she'd encountered throughout the loops. He was an impossibly powerful immortal who saved the world once, long ago, and preformed a vital function to protect the world from further harm. He was also dangerously unstable, driven mad by age, power, and the influence of a mad god. Twilight decided, as she finished the book, to try and save him. And she knew just how to do it, too.

"Do you think you can get me to the Well of Ascension?" she asked. The Well was the only source of power the book mentioned that was great enough for her purposes. "I have a plan, but I'll need the Well to make something, first."

Vin raised an eyebrow, but shrugged. "I guess so. Raiding Kredik Shaw is always good for a laugh. Can't open the Well myself, though. Think you might be an Allomancer?"

Twilight grinned a little. "Probably. Allomancy is basically magic, and I'm very good at magic."

Vin nodded. "Okay, good. Otherwise, we'd have to get Elend or Kell, assuming they're even Awake this loop, and they're not the... stealthiest guys around. Well, maybe Kell, but he tends to leave a trail of dead bodies."

Twilight shuddered at this, then shook her head. "Well, no need for that. Give me a week to learn Allomancy, and we'll go to the Well."

"A week?" Vin seemed skeptical. "Confident, are we?"

Twilight grinned. "You'd be surprised..."

* * *

Vin stared, open-mouthed, as Twilight effortlessly Pushed several hundred pounds of iron above her head, burning only steel and a bit of pewter to brace herself. "You were right. I am surprised."

Twilight grinned. "And it only took me three days! This is easier then I thought!"

* * *

A few days and one stealth mission later, Vin watched in bemusement as Twilight climbed form the Well of Ascension, wearing the strange tiara she'd gone in with and carrying what looked like... "You're kidding. You used up the source of near-omnipotent power to create a couple necklaces?"

Twilight grinned at her. "These aren't just necklaces - they're fully-functional replicas of the Elements of Harmony, some of the most powerful magical artifacts from my home loop. I only had my Element of Magic with me, of course, but I was able to invoke the spirits of the other Elements to make copies. I doubt they'd hold up past one use, but it's enough for our purposes." She held out one of the necklaces, emblazoned with a small, red thunderbolt. "Here, I figure Loyalty suits you. Now we'll just need four other people to represent a few abstract concepts, and a clear shot at the Lord Ruler - and maybe some of the Steel Inquisitors, if we can manage it."

Vin looked down at the necklaces, before shrugging and putting it on. "I do like red. These are weapons?"

"Not exactly, no. But they'll defeat the Lord Ruler, and, through the connection between the hemalurgy spikes on him and the Inquisitors, probably Ruin too."

"Two birds, one stone." Vin smiled. "I like it."

* * *

Elend fingered the necklace bearing a purple diamond he wore nervously. "Vin, are you sure about this? I just don't see how some jewelry is going to stop the Lord Ruler, much less Ruin." He, Vin, and Twilight were huddled in the corner of a hut, on the very edge of the town square, where the Lord Ruler was scheduled to make an appearance. Vin had been overjoyed to see her husband was Awake; it was the most emotion Twilight had seen her display to date.

Vin just shrugged. "Twilight seems to think so. And if it doesn't, it's not like we don't know how to kill him, or the Inquisitors. Might as well give it a shot."

Twilight smiled warmly at her fellow Anchor. "Thanks, Vin."

"Hey, you three!" Kelsier's grinning face made an appearance from the entrance to the roof, the blue ballon on his own necklace glimmering in the torchlight. "Come on, it's almost time. To Vin's mild disappointment, Kell had not been awake, but he'd leapt at the chance to add a pair of powerful Skaa Mistborn like Twilight and Vin to his team. Elend had taken more convincing, being a nobleman, but Elend had apparently kept the extreme Allomantic powers he normally wouldn't have gotten until much later, and his raw power convinced even the most stubbornly anti-noble member of the crew.

As the trio trooped up to the roof, they joined the rest of Kelsier's merry gang. There was Ham, a simple sort of man with a philosophical bent that Twilight found rather intriguing; they had had many lengthy discussions on various topics. Next to him was Breeze, who greatly reminded Twilight of a sort of odd fusion between Rarity's high class and Rainbow Dash's superior attitude. There was Dox, who avoided Vin and Twilight studiously - Twilight was certain it was because of their close association with Elend. And finally, the last two members of Twilight's impromptu Element Bearers - scholarly Sazed, whom Twilight had been most impressed with and given the Element of Honesty, and gentle Spook, who had recieved Kindness.

Dox eyed the group warily as the six Bearers assembled themselves on the edge of the roof. "I still don't believe those trinkets will do anything," he muttered.

Kelsier just grinned at him. "What have we got to lose? Twila says these things can defeat the Lord Ruler; I say, let's give it a shot! After all, nobody knows any other way to kill him, do they?"

"Shhh!" Spook hissed, pointing, but he needn't have bothered. Twilight could feel the Lord Ruler coming, like a heavy weight on her soul. She shivered; the dark feeling reminded her of the effects of the Dementors from her Hogwarts loops. As if she'd never be happy again. Vin hadn't been exaggerating.

She and the other three Mistborn in the group all put up Copperclouds and began Rioting the emotions of the group, just as planned, and the feeling of dread dissipated.

Twilight watched carefully as a black carriage came up to the square, and the Lord Ruler stepped out. The carriage was followed by several of the abominations Vin called Steel Inquisitors, and just looking at them made Twilight feel sick. She didn't even want to think about all the people who died to create the spikes that stuck out from their eyes, and the smaller, hidden ones on their backs. Hemalurgy was a dark magic indeed.

Kelsier put a hand on Twilight's shoulder. "Whatever it is these baubles do," he said quietly, "you'll never get a better shot."

Twilight nodded, and concentrated on her Element. As she hoped, the other five Elements responded, and they all began to glow. The Lord Ruler, his sense sharpened by years of burning Tin, noticed the glow and shouted something, but before his Inquisitors could spring into action, a rainbow light exploded from the Elements. It spread out, covering first Luthadel, then the Empire, and eventually all of Scadrial.

* * *

Some time later, Vin looked down at the sobbing Rashek. "What did you do to him?"

Twilight shrugged. "All the evil and madness has been purged from him. I imagine he's probably overwhelmed with guilt and shame."

"Nice." Vin grinned. "And them?" She gestured to the fallen Steel Inquisitors.

Twilight shrugged. "They were mostly dead already; just a scrap of soul bound to a body with Hemalurgy and Ruin's power. The Elements freed all the souls trapped in the Hemalurgic spikes, and without that power... well, people don't generally survive having giant spikes in the place of eyes."

"Ouch." Vin laughed. "And Ruin?"

Twilight smiled a bit. "Going by the other pure evil deities we've used them on, probably imprisoned in something even sturdier then Preservation's prison. He has no more power on this world."

"Excellent. Last question." Vin gestured around at the clear blue skies, bright yellow sun, and green grass. "How the hell did you manage all this?"

Twilight chuckled. "The environment had been artificially altered. The Elements are pretty good at normalizing that kind of thing."

Vin shook her head. "You're a miracle worker, Twilight Sparkle. It normally takes me at least a year to fix this, and I usually have to turn into a god to do it."

"Well, I'm already a god. Sort of. We use the term divine, at least…"

"Wait, what?"

* * *

AN: I could only fit six in this time. (The DA version of this fic has fairly strict word-per-chapter limits.)

24.1 is the Elenium setting.  
24.3 is the world of Dog Days, which looks like rather an interesting anime. (It's also used here for a multi way battle royale between Loopers.)  
24.4... this is interesting. The author of this little snippet says it's based off a fic concept which never panned out. So if it looks like an interesting one, say so and just maybe it'll encourage Anowack to actually do it...  
24.5 Writing speeches is hard.  
24.6 is the Mistborn setting.


	25. Chapter 25

25.1

Twilight frowned. "Huh. I would appear to be… Twilight the False Bearded."

It seemed that in this universe the fabled old wizard was actually a mare – her, in fact. But… _she_ was pretending to be a stallion for some unknown reason.

Well, it wasn't important… probably. Twilight discarded the beard and, after a moment of deliberation, decided to keep the hat and robe.

"Right, I wonder if-"

Something barrelled through the door and threw forelegs around her. "Hi, Momma!"

"Nyx?" Twilight said, delighted. "How come you're-"

Luna entered the room. That jogged Twilight's Loop memory, and she made an _ah_ of realization. "So, the Royal Sisters are twins this time."

"Indeed." Luna nodded to her solemnly. "Strange, but it gives me a good opportunity to really get to know my…"

She paused. "Now that I think about it, a permanent descriptor for Nyx's relationship to me is a rather tricky question. I mean, I can scarcely call _her_ a dark side."

Twilight and Nyx giggled.

"I am darker in colour, though…" the youngest Looper there said critically. "I mean, there's not a lot in it…"

Luna appeared to come to a decision. "I shall simply call you _sister_, dear Nyx. And I would be honoured to continue to call you that, no matter the whys and whens of the loop."

Nyx beamed.

"Now," the elder Lunar Princess added, "how shall we divide the duties?"

"I know!" Nyx's horn lit, and created an illusion of the moon-sun system relative to them. "I get the new moons, you get the full moons. That fair?"

"Sounds good," Luna nodded. "What about the daytimes?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Of _course_ you're going to want me to do it."

"Now you mention it…" Nyx said teasingly, "that _would_ help."

* * *

"Er… Day Regent?"

Twilight looked up. "Yes?"

"I was wondering… I know it's impolite, but…" the elderly noble shook his head. "How old are you?"

"What makes you ask?" Twilight replied. "And it _is_ rude to ask a mare's age."

"Well, I remember when, as a young colt, my father took me into Canterlot for the first time, and he mentioned that you'd been a rock of stability for the country for as long as he could remember." The stallion seemed very confused. "And here you are, the same as you were on that day."

"Oh, I understand your confusion," Twilight said earnestly. "Assisting with the court is something of a family tradition."

"…right. Sorry for getting you mixed up with your mother." The noble walked off, satisfied.

_I wonder if he'll ever work out that those two sentences I said, while both true, weren't actually otherwise related…_

* * *

25.2 (Anowack)

* * *

Celestia and Nightmare Moon – apparently allied – met the looping alicorns on a tall, bare hill several miles outside of Canterlot.

They didn't bring an army, but a scrying spell had shown Twilight that it wasn't for lacking the option. The royal guard – even a torn Shining Armor – had begged Princess Celestia to let them help. Celestia had been forced to refuse them, of course; against seven enemy alicorn princesses an army was likely to be only a fleeting distraction.

An expectant quiet had fallen over Canterlot – over all of Equestria. The sun had still not risen – a limit to how far Nightmare Moon was willing to compromise, no doubt – and the rainbow waves had dimmed only slightly, still visible to the magically unaided eye.

Everypony that lived knew that their world was changing forever, and they waited to see what it was changing into.

Neither Celestia nor the corrupt Luna were foolish enough to think that their first blow would end the fight, but the twin beams of brilliant solar fire and cold moonlight scattered their foes' formation and briefly suppressed their defenses. A powerful gravity spell forced the loopers to the ground before the two larger alicorns.

There was silence for a long moment as the opponents studied each other. It was Twilight's first time seeing this loop's Celestia with Awake eyes, and it _hurt_ to see the pain and confusion in her gaze.

Celestia's eyes widened in surprise as they passed over Cadance, blinking back unshed tears, but it was only when they met Twilight's gaze that she spoke. "_Why_, Twilight?" she asked, and despite it all the betrayed agony in her voice made Twilight shake. "What did I do wrong? Was I too harsh a teacher? Should I not have hidden the truth about Nightmare Moon from you? _Why?_"

Pinkie Pie seemed to be within seconds of vibrating into a thousand pieces from impatience, so Twilight nodded at her. "All right, do it now," she said.

"Yes!" Pinkie exclaimed, and her horn glowed a brilliant pink as she teleported all the ponies who had been "killed" in their attack on Ponyville to the battle site from the Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters, where a bemused Looping Mayor Mare had been explaining the plan and overseeing the preparations.

"SURPRISE!" came from a hundred throats – though in nothing close to unison. The plan had been for them to get a ten second countdown, but Pinkie skipping that wasn't really a shock.

The "Welcome Back Princess Lu-" banner really _shouldn't _have been either, but Twilight still planted a hoof in her face when she saw it. At least she hadn't pushed it and tried to get them to make a "Congratulations On Reconciling" sign. Harmony only knew how that would have been spelled.

Celestia sat back, her mouth gaping open.

Nightmare Moon laughed, her starry mane waving wildly around her. "**And thou called ****_me_**** insane, sister?**" she asked.

"But... wha..." Celestia sputtered helplessly.

Nightmare Moon shook her head, still chortling. "**They got u**s, 'Tia," she said, blotches of black corruption running down her side and melting away. "Is it not clear?" Luna asked, apparently not even noticing her transformation reverting. "No doubt the entire intent of this rebellion was to force us to fight alongside each other once more."

Celestia certainly _did _notice though. "...Luna?"

The younger princess was still snickering. "It is most obvious that this Twilight Sparkle is _thy _student, 'Tia."

Celestia glanced at Twilight, and though the Princess of the Sun was still clearly confused, Twilight was relieved to see gratitude in her eyes. Then Celestia jumped up, almost bowling her sister over in the force of her embrace.

Twilight smiled. Though it was a little painful to apply anything learned from that distasteful loop to others, it had only held to reason that if sudden, massive rebellion by seven alicorns was enough to force Nightmare Moon and that slave-owning Celestia to reconcile on their own, it would also work on more a more ordinary version of her also.

Luna had finally taken stock of herself and the situation, and started returning her Celestia's hug, both sisters sobbing wildly. Twilight's smile widened a little. She and her friends would have a lot of explanations and apologies to make, but it was worth it, really.

Twilight glanced up at the unmarred moon and, deciding that the royal sisters were likely to be distracted for a while, quietly set it and brought forth the delayed dawn before joining the celebration.

* * *

25.3 (Stainless Steel Fox)

Academic Excellence continued

* * *

As she approached the Flight Assignment board, she saw Cloud Chaser and Wildflower coming away with affronted expressions, which went flat as they saw her approach.

"What's up guys? I figured you'd be able to team up with any-pony else, that's why we cross-trained."

"It's not us!" Cloud Chaser exclaimed, "You were robbed!"

"Yes, they made you a wing-pony!" Wildflower said indignantly. "I managed to get a look at the Hall of Fame. That run you pulled yesterday was the fastest ever!"

Dash shrugged. "I know. So who did I get as Lead?"

"Who else…" Cloud Chaser growled.

"They made me lead pony!" Lightning Dust's voice held a hint of smugness. "And they made us a team, that's what you wanted, isn't it? Working together and all that."

Dash turned to face her with a grin. "Yeah, that's exactly what I wanted."

That seemed to take some of the enjoyment out of Lightning Dust's expression. "I'll see you out on the tarmac, wing-pony."

She stalked off, to Dash's called response. "Hey, since we're partners now, we should get some breakfast together…"

She found the other Ponyville ponies had clustered around her, most with similar expressions of displeasure. Thunderlane had a face like his namesake. "Why aren't you going to Spitfire's office and asking what in the wide, wide world of Equestria she was thinking! That pony couldn't lead a sing-song, let alone a team!"

"Why would Spitfire snub you like this? I thought she liked you!" Milky Way asked.

"That would be one excellent reason to be harder on me than any-pony else. Playing favourites is one of the fastest ways to breed resentment and break discipline. Besides, I know what she's doing, or I can guess at least. I guessed she'd put us together, we're the two strongest fliers, but there's another reason. Spitfire has to have spotted the potential problems with Dusty, they don't exactly pick Wonderbolt Commanders out of a hat, and she wants some-pony who can cope with her teamed up with her."

"Then why not as Lead pony?" Thunderlane asked. "Then you could tell her to shape up and she'd have to."

"Ha, like that would work! All that would do would be to make her even more resentful. She'd have to take my orders or quit, but she'd ultimately get so eager to show she's better than me that she'd pull some stupid stunt that would earn her a crash-landing. Trust me, I know show-offs. I was one… okay I still am one, but I've learned that there's more to life than that. Lightning Dust hasn't. As her wing-pony, I can advise, suggest, and hopefully get her to see the advantages of working together."

Thunderlane still seemed unconvinced. "You and Spitfire are going to a lot of trouble to salvage her. I thought you said something about not playing favourites?"

"Not quite the same thing. I'd like to think that Spitfire or I would make the same effort for any-pony, one of you guys if you were the problem foal. She has the potential to go all the way, and it would be a crying shame if she failed because she failed to understand the rest of what she needs."

Raindrops was looking at her with a degree of wonder. "Dash, when did you get so… wise."

"Heh, if this is wisdom, I want my money back!" The rainbow maned pegasus grinned. "Seriously, I hang around with a group of very smart ponies. There's Twilight, the certified egg-head who's about the cleverest pony I know, she even got me reading! Applejack has the market cornered on down home common-sense, while I reckon Pinkie is just as smart as Twilight, but at right angles to reality. Fluttershy is Miss Empathy and Rarity is as skilled at shmoozing as any-pony in Canterlot."

She shrugged. "You can't be friends with that bunch and not pick up a few things. I needed more than just awesome flying skills to keep up with them, and you know I never turn down a challenge, or let some-pony down."

Cloud Chaser gave her a friendly pat on the back with one wing. "Well, good luck, I guess. You're going to need it!"

"Yeah." Snowflake agreed.

As the group broke up, Manerick, who had been observing things from behind a newspaper and a coffee (it was a big coffee) finished the mug and headed off to report what had happened to Spitfire.

* * *

The teams formed up out on the main runway, Milky Way and Wildflower exchanging small talk, while Snowflake stood at attention watched with a slight smirk by Cloud Chaser, and Raindrops stretched out her wings next to her partner Thunderlane.

Lightning Dust had her Lead pony badge in her hoof and was examining it proudly as Dash came up beside her. Her eyes fell to the silver badge Rainbow wore. "Mine is gold!"

"I know, it's a big honour, right?" Rainbow replied easily.

"Huh, I'd have expected you to kick up a bigger fuss about not getting one of these yourself!" The green pegasus stated, trying to get a rise out of Dash.

"It would have been nice, but you have to figure Spitfire knows what she's doing. She knows I can lead from when she came to observe Ponyville's water delivery to Cloudsdale, she probably wants to see if I still remember how to follow. Which I do, I've been lead weather-pony for Ponyville for a couple of years now, but I paid my dues to get there."

"Huh, weather work, that's kinda dull. I'm a high speed courier, anywhere, anytime I deliver!"

"That makes sense, you'd need self-reliance, guts and speed to do that job well. But weather work isn't all clear flying, at least not in Ponyville. We're right up against the Everfree Forest, or as we weather pegasi call it 'Princess Celestia's Home for Clinically Insane Weather.' Seriously, you never know what's going to come out next. At one point we had rains of fish so regularly that we had a thriving canning industry!"

Lightning Dust gave her a look askance. "Yeah, right…"

The rainbow-maned pegasus held her serious expression for another couple of heart-beats, then cracked up. "Okay, you got me… but I mean it about weird weather. You should come over some time, what with that and Ghastly Gorge, there's plenty of challenging flying."

"Heh, I might just do that." Lightning Dust replied, "You know Dash, you're alright."

Dash preened. "I'm better than alright, I'm awesome, which I guess makes two of us."

"You ain't just shovelling stratus!" The other pegasus grinned.

Spitfire and her assistants arrived at that point, putting an end to the conversation.

"Today you will all be participating in a flag hunt. We'll divide you into two teams, red... and blue." As she stated the colours, her assistants appeared behind the groups, one holding a red flag, the other the blue. Lightning Dust and Rainbow were partnered with Thunderlane and Raindrops. Dash had neatly stepped forward and avoided being pushed aside by the pony holding the flag.

"Whoever finds the most flags of the opposing team's colour wins."

All the recruits cheered, but the ones trained by Dash knew better then to start talking in the ranks. Lightning Dust didn't. "Aw yeah! We're going to rock this so hard..."

She got a face full of Spitfire for her pains. "This isn't some sort of game, it's a training exercise! Lead ponies and wing-ponies must fly together. If any pair splits apart, they will be immediately disqualified. Do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am!" They chorused. At the whistle, they all took off, and the red team forming up and agreeing on something. Then they formed a line abreast and started doing systematic sweeps of the area, exactly the way Dash had taught them, straight from the Wonderbolts own play-book on search and rescue techniques.

The blue team had more difficulty. "If we have to keep our speed down to those guys, we'll never get anywhere!"

"We're not that slow!" Thunderlane retorted, glaring at Lightning Dust.

Rainbow Dash tried spreading stratus on turbulent air. "Sweeping as a line lets us cover more ground and not end up checking somewhere the other wing pair already did. We should stick with the Thuderlane and Raindrops."

"If we can sweep the whole place in half the time, why do we need any-pony else?" Lightning Dust exclaimed. "C'mon Dash, let's go!"

Dash gave an apologetic glance to the other half of blue team, and a 'Do your best without us!' before zooming off after her lead pony. She came up alongside Lightning and said, "I don't think this is going to work as well as you think, but you've got lead. How do you want to do this?"

"Just follow me and keep looking for those flags, we'll have the whole lot before they can blink!"

She started flying hither and yon in a pretty much random pattern at great speed. Dash could have helped make a clean sweep, as she knew the locations of every flag, red and blue after so many repeats, but she was only going to 'find' the flags that Lightning Dust's random pattern took them over.

They made an impressive haul, scooping up flag after flag as they covered a longer path than the other three pairs put together. It was a confident Lightning Dust who landed by the instructors when time was called, with Rainbow Dash in perfect formation with her.

"Heh! Told you!" The green pegasus was grinning. "We must have found twice as many flags as any-pony else! Though you spotted even mopre than me, you must have X-ray vision."

"Uh huh, my super-powers are all to do with flying." Dash bantered back. Lightning Dust had relaxed as they'd flown around, and Dash had enjoyed chatting with her. She was finally starting to build up something like the connection she'd unwittingly made that fist time round. However, she didn't expect the other pony's good mood to last much longer.

Spitfire examined a clip-board. "After totalling up the flags, it's clear this was a close run battle. Both teams got a very high count, record breaking in fact. However, the Red team wins."

"WHAT?" Lightning Dust exclaimed. "But me and Dash got more flags than any-pony!"

Spitfire removed her shades and gave Lightning Dust a severe look. "Unfortunately, the other half of your team got the least out of all the pairs. It's the total as a group that counts."

Lightning Dust glared at Thunderlane and got her stare returned with interest. Dash put a wing on her shoulder to calm her down before she said something she'd regret, or at least that would put her in hot water with Spitfire. She whispered, "Stay frosty, it's only a test..."

However, once Spitfire and her team had left Lightning Dust rounded on Thunderlane and Raindrops. "What were you two doing? Goofing off and smelling the flowers? You cost us the win!"

Thunderlane exploded. "WE cost YOU the win? You and your grandstand tactics are to blame for us losing!"

"You're crazy!" Lightning Dust snorted. "Dash, tell him he's crazy!"

"Why should I? I said your plan wouldn't work." Dash responded.

Lightning Dust looked aside at her, incredulously. "Why are you turning on me? I thought we were a team! Well fine, I don't need you or any-pony!"

She turned to stalk away, only to be blocked by Snowflake and Thunderlane, who growled at her. "You're an idiot! Dash is the one pony who's been supporting you from the start! The rest of us wouldn't be giving an arrogant egotist like you the time of day if she hadn't asked us to! She sees something in you, I don't know what, but then she's the real deal, a leader because she _leads_ rather than because some-pony pinned a gold badge on her!"

"Thunderlane, that's enough!" Rainbow Dash interjected. "I know you're mad, I would be too, but it's as much my fault as hers. I should have done more to stop her pulling that kinda stuff."

"You don't need to make excuses for her." Thunderlane gave a snort. "We saw you trying. She was the one who was convinced of her own infallibility. If you want to make it up to us, explain it to her, and this time use small words! Maybe if you grind them fine enough they'll filter through that layer of ego she wraps herself in."

Lightning Dust still wanted to leave, but the rest of the cadets had crowded round, blocking her escape routes. She didn't have much choice. She turned to Dash. "Fine, so explain already!"

"If we'd stayed in line with Thunderlane and Raindrops, we'd probably have won. The red team did a standard search and rescue sweep pattern, right out of the Wonderbolts' own Flight Operations Manual. They use a three abreast flight, but the same idea. They covered a strip four pegasi wide, and because they were in formation, they knew exactly what had been covered, and any flag one pony missed, some-pony else was likely to spot."

Dash indicated the positions with her wing tips, demonstrating what she was describing.

"By going off on our own, we forced Thunderlane and Raindrops to cover twice the distance and fewer eyes meant more chance of missing a flag. Not to mention fatigue towards the end. We made up for it somewhat by finding more flags, but by flying around random-like, we covered some areas twice and missed others. Plus we picked up flags they'd have gotten if we'd been working together."

"You and I still got the most flags, that has to count for something!" Lightning Dust claimed, stomping a hoof. "Spitfire seems to think I've got the right stuff, or she wouldn't have made me Lead pony."

Rainbow shook her head. "Maybe she just wanted to see how you'd do as a leader. It's more than just telling ponies what to do, it's about being able to ask for ideas from your team-mates and make decisions that are best for the group, not just you. If you're as obsessed with the Wonderbolts as I am, you'll have seen all their displays. Just think, have you ever seen a stunt or performance where there was a _lone_ Wonderbolt flying?"

That seemed to get through to Lightning Dust, and her annoyed expression turned worried.

"That's what I thought. I doubt she was too impressed with that out-burst afterwards either. She took off the glasses, that's generally a sign that some-pony's gonna get unlucky."

"How can you know that!" Dust asked finally looking nervous.

Rainbow Dash sighed. "Any-pony here can tell you how much I want to be a Wonderbolt. I've studied their moves, their strategies, and the ponies who fly for them. Do you really think I wouldn't find out anything I could about the pony who was in charge of the Academy for our course?"

"Hey, I want to be a Wonderbolt too! I've dreamed of it since I was a filly! Why do you think I push myself so hard in the first place?" Lightning Dust exclaimed in a hurt voice. "It's not my fault other ponies can't keep up!"

"Look, I get you! I was the same way. But my friends helped me to realise, it's more than just pushing yourself, it's about pushing yourself in the right direction. A Wonderbolt has to be an expert flyer, but she also has to work with other pegasi, and that means listening to them, even accepting that you can't always be out front." She gestured to her own silver wing pony badge. "If you can't figure that out, it doesn't matter how awesome your moves are, you'll never be a Wonderbolt."

Lightning Dust glared at Rainbow Dash, but the other pegasus just looked back at her with a cool, steady expression. Finally, Dust's wings sagged, and she looked away. "I... I need some time alone..."

She heard the other ponies trot off, and started when a wing-tip touched her shoulder. Rainbow Dash was standing there with a more sympathetic expression. "When you're ready, I'll be in barracks if you want to talk. For what It's worth, I think you can do this. I know it's not easy, but then the really important things never are."

As she walked away, she called back over her shoulder. "After all, for a Wonderbolt, the bigger the challenge, the better we like it!"

* * *

25.4 (Detective Ethan Redfield)

* * *

"K-Keep 'em comin' barkeep," a drunk, human Twilight Sparkle slurred as she watched her pony self, loyal student of Tyrant Sun Celestia, speak to the United Nations on national TV.

_"Ponification fixes all the problems with your people. We get rid of that pesky human nature and reconfigure you to live in harmony with others."_

A loud thwack echoed through the room as the anchor smacked her head against the stainless steel counter. Oh, how she hated Bureau loops. But this one finally pushed her over the top. It was enough that her teacher who she knew and loved for centuries was twisted into a mockery of everything she knew and loved. Now, it was her that was being twisted. Worse, it was in front of her very eyes.

The real irony though was that she wasn't alone. No, a human looper Celestia was resting her chin on the counter next to her student. She wasn't quite as drunk as Twilight, but still swayed when she sat up in her seat. After downing another shot of brandy, the anchor tried calling for Spike and turned towards the corner where 'spike' watched with interest, "'Take a note Spike, this tops the list in terms of bad loops...No more about Rainbow always dressing in style or Eik...Eik...that school loop where we can't use magic. Even the loop where Pinkie became an alicorn princess wasn't as bad as this one."

Celestia held up her glass and swirled the ice, "Twilight...that's a dog."

A happy bark echoed from that corner. The other patrons didn't pay them much attention as the Twilight on the tv continued to dig herself a deep grave she could never escape. Human Twilight looked to her teacher, "Well, better get this fixed."

Celestia nodded as the two rose from their seats and stumbled out the door.

*****

The two stared into the night sky from their apartment where they had woken up. Twilight clutched her head as the hangover pounded away, "How did this happen?"

What had once been the moon was now a whole other planet with a new small moon orbiting it. Celestia didn't reply right away, "Well...since the other Celestia had teleported the entirety of Equestria into the Pacific Ocean, disrupting all kinds of natural weather currents...I'd have to say Equestria itself was causing disharmony. Theoretically, we restored this planet to its natural harmony by banishing all of the invading Equestria to the moon."

Twilight nodded, "Ok...that explains 'Equestria', but where did 'Equestria' get that smaller moon?"

Celestia shrugged, "My memories are still fuzzy from last night, but," she walked over to mug, lifted it up and sniffed, "Since at once point we made some of Luna's moonshine, I don't think I want to remember. I only make it when I want to forget something."

Twilight shuddered, "Let's never mention this again."

After a moment she blinked. "Hey, where'd we get the other Elements from? I can only summon Magic, the others I have to get from the Loop if they're there…"

"I believe we mugged your friends' counterparts for them." Celestia winced at another stab of pain. "Wow, Applejack has a mean right hook. I'm going to have a nasty black eye for a while…"

* * *

25.5

Rainbow Dash fretted quietly as the night wore on. She knew she shouldn't, she'd worked how to handle this series of events until it was a fine art, but…

It still hurt seeing what her old friend had become. Or was on the way to becoming.

Still, it didn't take very long nowadays to reverse the trend.

* * *

"Oh, hey, Gilda!" Dash said, giving the griffon a welcoming smile. "Nice to see you after so long."

"Yeah…" Gilda said, with none of her usual enthusiasm. She frowned, then shook her head. "Yeah." This time was much more natural, and after considering what it might mean for a moment Dash just decided to ignore it. (Maybe there'd been some bad weather? Dash had tried to understand what time looping did to the weather, once, but it had made her head hurt when Twilight got onto Lorentz attractors and so she gave up.)

"Okay, so what do you want to do first?" Dash asked, flaring her wings. "Flying? I've picked up some _really_ cool tricks since last time we saw each other…"

"Maybe later…" Gilda looked around as though trying to spot something, but came up blank. "Actually… hey, back east I met this guy called Gas- G- Gustav, that's it. He was… kinda strange, but I bet you've never eaten _anything_ more tasty than what he made."

She grinned, and if it was a bit forced then there was also a lot of genuine humour in it. "But he was kind of scary too. Threatened to tie me to a railway line if I took a muffin before it was ready."

_Huh_, Dash thought absently. _Now I want to check if Con Mane is real and if Mulia's really a ninja…_

"Sounds like a cool guy," Dash said. "But do I detect a note of…?"

Gilda looked blank.

Dash rolled her eyes. "And I thought _I_ was the unobservant one. Did you fancy him?"

"Ew, no." Gilda stuck her tongue out. "He was, like, old."

Both of them laughed at that.

"Anyway, I was…" Gilda paused again. "I was kind of wondering what kind of friends you have, now." She held up a claw. "But only the awesome ones! I only go so far."

"Yeah, I think they can do awesome," Dash replied, with a cocky grin.

Internally she was wondering what on Equestria was making this Loop so _strange_.

* * *

"…and this is Twilight Sparkle," Dash said, as they entered the library. "Well, _this_ is her house, since she seems to be out at the moment, but you know what I mean. She's pretty buckin' powerful."

"Powerful?" Gilda repeated, looking around dubiously. "This is a library."

"Yeah, it is." Dash shrugged. "But hay, there's a few here that _I_ read. I mean, look!"

She swooped up and picked the first Daring Do book off a shelf. "Isn't that just basically me with a different coat and mane?"

Gilda looked from the book cover to Dash. "It really is. Huh."

"And she's kind of awesome, too, she even gets a broken wing at one point and it doesn't slow her down, and…" Dash trailed off. "I was talking about Twilight, wasn't I?"

"Yeah," Gilda nodded, and sniggered. "I'm reminded of when I helped you revise."

"Hey, I did just as much helping!" Dash objected. "When I remembered…"

"Which was twice." The griffin shook her head. "Anyway. That unicorn you were talking about?"

"Yeah, she's probably the most powerful spellcaster in history."

"Like you're the fastest pony in history?"

"Both are true!" Dash said quickly. "No word of exaggeration. I'll show you later, actually. But yeah, Twi is… kind of awe-inspiring, really. I've seen her take telekinetic control of a collapsing dam and… _un_-collapse it. I've seen her fight monsters and consider it a normal day." Dash's voice became slightly distant. "I've seen Twilight teleport to the moon and back."

She'd seen Twilight do a _lot_ more than that, too, but most of the examples she could think of required more explanation.

* * *

"So, yeah." Dash pointed. "Twilight. Hey, Twilight, meet my old school friend Gilda."

Twilight frowned. "Hold on a minute…" She darted over to a bookshelf and picked something out. Paging through it, she reached the page she was looking for before either flier could get more than a little bit confused.

"Micro-expressions!" she shouted, apropos of nothing obvious.

Whirling on one hoof, she pointed at Gilda. "How long have you been Looping?"

"Oh!" Dash said, Gilda's behaviour suddenly making a lot more sense.

Seeing that the griffin seemed lost, Twilight steered her over to a seat with the gentle pressure of a foreleg. "Come here. You might not know the terminology, but I can tell you recognized me – so you've clearly met me before, and you haven't normally met me before, and there's nothing different than standard about this loop so you've come back in time. Hi, by the way, nice to meet you."

Gilda blinked. "Hey, Dash, I thought that pink earth pony was the talkative one."

"Yeah, you just caught Twilight in geek mode," Dash replied casually. "Hey, what kind of party do you prefer? 'cause I need to let Pinkie know."

* * *

25.6

Takeru "T.K." Takaishi grimaced down at his body. "You know, when you were the human and I was the digimon… I complained, I understand that."

The pegasus sitting next to him grinned.

"I said I looked like a My Little Pony. And I might have said some things which, on balance, could be viewed as rude."

"Keep going…" Pegasusmon said, still smiling. "Oh, and that reminds me, since this isn't our normal world I'm Shoya again."

"Sure, standard practice." TK paused. "Where was I?"

"Things which could be viewed as rude."

"Yeah." The earth pony nodded. "I take them all back. Now I _am_ a flippin' My Little Pony!"

"Hey, don't knock it," Shoya commented. "This looks like gen IV. Much better than the others."

"Define better," TK deadpanned.

"Actual dangerous villains, a working and dynamic society, powerful magic and-"

Something exploded overhead.

"-that," Shoya finished, nodding skywards at a series of expanding coloured rings. "Awesome in a can."

TK examined his friend and partner closely. "Are you blushing."

"No. Yes. Maybe…" the digimon trailed off. "Look, my armour form is a pegasus, alright? I… may have watched the show."

"I would tease you about that for centuries," the erstwhile Anchor said, "but I have absolutely no standing on the grounds that I'm a pony more often than you are a pegasus."

"Yeah, Rookie forms are like that." Shoya tossed his head. "Come on, let's try and find out if the plot expects us for something."

Putting action to words, he spread his wings and shot off upwards.

"I can't fly!" TK shouted after the rapidly receding pegasus. "Oh, this is just perfect."

Feeling stubborn, he got out his D3 and began playing Tetris. It was about five minutes before he noticed he was doing it with hooves.

* * *

"Wait a sec, Gils," Dash said, screeching to a halt mid-sky and backwinging. "I didn't recognize that pegasus."

"Right," Gilda said, turning in a slow loop as she had to be more conscious of her speed – not having Dash's insane acceleration. "I'm guessing that's unusual in these… loops?"

"Yep!" Dash pointed. "Right there."

Gilda focused. "Wait, is he wearing armour?"

"Huh, he is. Maybe it's just a lost guard…" Dash pondered the problem for a bit. It was only Gilda's third loop, and she was still learning the basics.

On the other hand, every bit of practice helped. "Come on, we'll see what he has to say. Twilight can probably sort it out, whatever it is."

"You really trust her, don't you…" Gilda said quietly.

"Yeah, I kind of do. You know we've spent a couple of loops as the Royal Sisters? Second time, I didn't screw up, and we just… lived and ruled for over a thousand years. I know her _really_ well."

"I kind of wish I knew you half as well." The griffin shook her head, and returned to the topic of the moment. "He seems to be experimenting with how clouds work."

"Oh, sweet!" Dash pointed. "Come on, we got us a guest Looper!"

* * *

"So, if I understand this right…" Twilight said, scanning a digital library on her PADD, "You are from Digimon Adventure."

"Yep," Shoya said with a nod. "Me and T.K. are the Anchors for that Loop. We've been all over the place."

"Yes, I imagine you have…" Twilight noted it down.

"And it's pretty cool to be here, actually… when are we? That's Gilda, so… before or after she normally shows up?"

"Before," Dash said with a shrug. "You turned up pretty sharpish. She's a Looper now, but that's recent."

"It's interesting to meet someone who's actually familiar with the show version of our world." Twilight added. "We're used to it from the inside, of course, so seeing it on the screen is a little strange. Oh - where's your co-Anchor?"

"…oh, snap…" Shoya gulped. "Well, probably in the middle of a Pinkie Pie Party by now."

The doors flew open with a bang, and Pinkie dragged a bewildered T.K in by the ear. "You could have mentioned you came here with somepony else! Now I need to make a whole new party theme for _two_ new local Loopers! Stay right here, and I'll be back in five minutes!"

She bounced out, leaving by the window.

T.K. looked like he'd been bowled over by a bus.

His partner leant over. "See, you would have expected this if you'd just watched the show like I did."

* * *

25.7

Spike soared over the dense canopy of the Everfree forest, letting single wing beats and thermals carry him across the cloak of green.

Of all the things the Loops had brought him, he thought flying was the best.

Well, aside from the people who looped with him… but they weren't things, anyway. Flying was a skill… or, rather, several. There were so many kinds of it, from the effortless speed of a pegasus to the ponderous flight of a great wyrm. Right now, he was about thirty feet in wingspan, which gave him options.

Humming a jaunty tune, he set a course south – then frowned, squinting down at the ground, and flared the big wings before coming to a hover.

Yes, there was definitely something down there that didn't belong.

Spike let air slip out from under his wing membranes and gradually lost height, trying to get close enough to confirm what he'd seen.

_Aha!_

* * *

A large wolf loped steadily along under the dappled sunlight. _Things_ stirred as it passed, but none of them did more than stir.

The canine slowed as it reached a low ridge, sniffed, and then turned a little and resumed the ground-eating pace. Leaf litter and twigs crunched underfoot, and when the wolf came to a cliff it bounded up in a series of huge leaps, ground-root-branch-trunk and then to the top.

Eventually, a clearing opened out in the middle of the forest, one cut by a huge fallen tree. Climbing the side of the trunk in a scrabble of claws, the wolf padded along to the middle of the trunk and sat.

Leaves rustled in a sudden, intense wind, as Spike backwinged into the clearing. He landed lightly enough on the end of the tree nearest the roots.

"Good afternoon," he said cheerfully. "I didn't realize you did this."

"Not very often…" the wolf replied. "But the Everfree is the only really _wild_ place on Equestria… sometimes I just feel the need to get away. And I feel… safer like this."

The animal blurred, and Fluttershy was stood there instead. "But if you want-"

"No, no, don't change back on my account," Spike protested. "It's not often I see you so confident, it's probably good for you."

"Thank you…" she muttered. "But I did bring a lunch, and wolves can't eat chocolate. So I may as well eat now." Fluttershy managed a little giggle. "I'm sure the big scary dragon will keep me safe."

Spike posed. It was hard to tell if he was seriously trying to look macho or just trying to make her laugh.

A moment later, he dropped it. "I do know how you feel, though. It's good to just meditate once in a while."

"Thank you. Oh, would you like some?"

He waved it off. "No, I've been eating too much Bluejohn, I need to lose some weight."

"Well, you're too big for it to just be baby fat…" she said critically, and Spike laughed.

"That whole wolf thing is really working out for you, huh?"

"Sometimes. Other times I try being a leopard, or… something." Fluttershy looked at the ground. "I'm probably not very good at it by Oerth standards, I just can't get the hang of, er, hunting."

"Really, that's not a problem," Spike said, shaking his head. "Instincts can be overrated. Take it from the dragon!"

They sat in companionable silence for the next half hour or so, as Fluttershy ate and then carefully stored all the leavings in her subspace pocket to recycle.

Eventually, the pegasus stood up with a purposeful air. "Nice seeing you, Spike," she said, and blurred back into an animal. Spike was slightly surprised to notice that this one was a puma, but she winked at him and then padded off.

Being a druid was really working out well for Fluttershy.

* * *

25.8 (Masterweaver)

* * *

Twilight blinked as the loop memories flowed in. "Hmm, this seems to be fairly baseline. I wonder if-"

Her ears perked. Something was... off. It sounded as though somepony was mimicking her word for word.

"Hello?"

There it was again! A voice, to her left! She turned to look and came face to face with herself.

"...huh. This is new."

***

"So let me get this straight," Luna deadpanned. "Everyone who's awake this loop spontaneously duplicated when they awakened?"

"Eeeeeyup."

The princess of the night let her gaze shift from one red stallion to the other, slowly licking her ice cream. "This is... quite an interesting development."

"Ah know, right?" Apple Bloom grinned. "First thang we did, tried ta see if we could double what was in our subspace pocket!"

"Turns out we share one," her duplicate said with a shrug. "Oh well. Still pretty useful."

"I see..." Luna rolled her eyes. "Shame I didn't get a duplicate."

"Oh and what am I, chopped hay?"

The princess smiled down at the alicorn filly. "No, Nyx, you're a very special pony."

Nyx mock pouted before taking a huge bite of her ice cream. "Oh fiiiiiine."

She blinked.

"...I just realized. I have two mommies."

***

Celestia's pen moved furiously on her paperwork, glancing at the clock on occasion.

"Five more minutes. Just five more minutes and we switch out."

She already had her trunks on.

***

Cadance whispered something to Cadance.

Cadance grinned.

Shining gulped. "We're in for a long night, aren't we?"

"...yep." Shining blushed. "I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing."

***

Carrot Cake and Cupcake peered into the kitchen cautiously.

"...There's two of them, hon."

"...What do we do dear?"

"We pray. We pray."

***

"DOUBLE RAINBOOM ALL THE WAY!"

"SO INTENSE!"

"WHAT COULD IT MEAN?!"

* * *

25.9 (Filraen – Vulpine Fury - Nikas)

* * *

Gilda tried to doze under the shadow of a tree in an effort to trying to collect her thoughts. Flying had only made the matters worse because it made her remember Rainbow Dash.

She could understand griffins and ponies grow and change when you don't see them in some time, but Gilda knew the first time they met after Dash moved into Ponyville she didn't leave a good impression of herself. And looking back at that incident she was quite upset with herself, even if no one else would ever know it.

And somehow, by some strange magic she had a chance to start over again... well, not from the very beginning in Cloudsdale but from the time in Ponyville. It was strange, going to her after seeing that long night and the rumours of a Nightmare Moon again, but somehow she saw the chance to meet Dash again without the weight of the previous time.

To her surprise not only did Rainbow apparently know a bit of what was happening, but she had been "looping" longer than Gilda. Apparently she could grew herself a horn which let herself do some magic, learned to perform a Sonic Rainboom – how crazy was that? – from a standing position, got herself a fancy necklace about loyalty something or other and could tell a lot of crazy stories. Gilda preferred to just give Dash some beak service and pretend she believed them.

Because if Gilda actually believed Rainbow Dash's stories it'd mean creatures like humans existed. Because it'd mean she'd live these years again and again and again with no end on sight. Because it'd mean there are places so big that the Griffin lands would be less than a drop of water in the sea. Because it'd mean Rainbow Dash had lived through all of this a long time. Because it'd mean Dash had really flown through space, defeated the Nightmare Moon and raced a supersonic hedgehog. Because it'd mean she had really been the Equestrian Princess multiple times, raised the Sun and ruled for millennia. Because it'd mean she had become so awesome and close to those other ponies in as many lives as Gilda had feathers...

Because if she believed Rainbow Dash, what could Gilda hope to offer to her friend?

* * *

"G?" Rainbow Dash asked quietly. "You really feel that way? That you don't matter?"

Gilda lowered her eyes. How could she, just a griffin somehow caught up in this weirdness compare to a flipping _alicorn princess?_

"Should I tell you about the loops where we never lost touch with each other after flight camp?" The sad look on the polychrome pegasus' face was almost wrenching. "Those were pretty cool. How about the ones where I'm the griffin and you're the pegasus? Or the ones just like the first time through for all of us and I knew the thing to say to make you stay? I like those Loops. I don't have to choose between my first best friend and my other best friends. Gilda. Friendship is like love. It doesn't diminish when it's shared."

The griffin still looked dubious.

Dash kicked the floor. "Ah, buck it, I'm no good at these kinda talks. Come on, let's see what Twilight thinks."

* * *

Twilight listened in silence as Gilda spoke. When the griffin finished, she inhaled deeply and then let out a long sigh.

"Gilda, I'm an Anchor. Which means I've been awake for every single loop. Sure I've gotten powerful, but among Anchors and other long time loopers the truism is 'with great power comes great insanity.'"

"I've been better than most, but even I've had moments where I slipped. You'll find this out yourself, but imagine everyone around you had a disease. They remember everything up to a certain day. After that, they can't keep a new memory past a full day. They just keep forgetting and reliving the same day, over and over again. Only you remember and grow."

The unicorn eyed the griffin. "How long before you stopped seeing them as friends out of frustration? How many days till you stopped seeing them as people at all? How many weeks till you started meddling, manipulating them for what is 'best'? How many months till you started smashing them in frustration that they can't bucking remember anything?!" The unicorn's mane toinged out.

Gilda's instincts spiked from nothing, screaming at her to run or fight… or just stand perfectly still, in the hope that whatever was causing that fear wouldn't deign to notice her.

It was then that she began to really believe, bone-deep, that Dash was right.

Twilight stopped, closed her eyes, and breathed deeply, pushing away with a forelimb several times before continuing. "I think that is the root of a lot of madness among Loopers. Offer Dash nothing? Gilda, she has hope of seeing her friend now, not an endless parade of someone wearing your face that can't remember the real her anymore."

Gilda looked down again, then raised her eyes. "I can try that."

Twilight nodded. "Good. Hey, you might like to ask Dash for pictures. She enjoys your company, you know, even the non-looping you. Ask about something called Metal Wolf…"

* * *

_Dear Princess Celestia,_

_This loop I had to be reminded to take care of others, putting myself in their hooves if necessary. I was so happy my friend Gilda had Awoke I forgot how overwhelming looping could get for a newcomer, and I showed off too much too soon. Even if everything got resolved, I almost alienated my first friend by not easing the reveals._

_Hoping to see you soon,_

_Rainbow Dash_

* * *

"... that's it. Now it's your turn, G."

"What, me? Why?"

"Tradition from my base loop."

* * *

_Dear Princess Celestia,_

_First of all, my name is Gilda and I'm a griffin, friend of Rainbow Dash and according to her I'm also a looper now. Dash convinced me to write a "friendship report" for you and won't leave me alone until I write it so here it goes: I learned you should always be happy for the successes of your friends, because friends showing off are just trying to share their happiness; and there's always something one can offer to a friend, even if it's only the company of someone who remembers her._

_Gilda_

* * *

25.10 (Filraen)

* * *

In Ponyville Library there was a familiar scene playing out. It was neither the first time, nor the last – as anyone, Looper or not, could attest.

"Let's go over the checklist one last time Spike." Twilight said while giving her assistant a rolled scroll.

After nodding, Spike took a quill from the nearby desk and started reading the scroll. "Bedroom tidy?"

"Check."

"Living room clean?"

After a sound of teleportation Twilight answered, "Good."

"Tea?"

"Enough in kitchen."

"Cookies?"

"Here too," Twilight paused and closed her eyes briefly before continuing, "and also the super special secret sweetheart cake stash from Sugarcube Corner."

Spike frowned and looked around. "Where it is this so secret stash?"

Twilight teased back, "If I told you it wouldn't be so secret anymore." There's no need to mention Spike about subspace pockets, good to keep things from some powerful magical artifacts to snacks when one doesn't want to go to the kitchen to get them and break the conversation. "Also, those are for when Princess Celestia visits tonight."

"True enough" Spike said thoughtfully. "Anyway, do you think why Princess Celestia will come here this time?"

It isn't like it mattered much, though this loop her mentor decided to have delivered Twilight's Friendship Reports in person instead of Spike's magic flame. It was basically an excuse for Celestia to share more time with Twilight but the unicorn realized it helped honor Celestia's wish 'to get to know her all over again'. In that case it was... "Probably to change scenery? I'm not sure."

* * *

Celestia arrived soon after sunset. And then Celestia and Twilight shared a table chatting the night away, sleep claiming Spike within the hour.

* * *

"The Great Galloping Gala is in three months. Do you know if anypony still wants to go?" Celestia asked.

"Probably, though I have to make sure their expectations aren't too high." It wasn't like anypony else was awake this loop, Twilight considered, then suddenly tried to contain a laugh. "Still, if you wanted to spice the Gala up a bit, why don't you invite Steven Magnet?"

"You mean that river serpent who lives in Everfree?" At Twilight's nod both laughed. "Probably – he may like a social event like that and one way or other he will make that Gala one to remember."

* * *

"How is Princess Luna faring this loop?" Twilight asked after producing two slices of cake.

"Good enough. She's currently in the phase of trying to get out but afraid of the rejection."

"Send her here." Twilight shrugged. It wouldn't be Nightmare Night for some time but it'd probably be for the better. "Everything should be fine as long as you tell Luna to tone down her voice and I tell Pinkie not to play scared."

After a pause the white alicorn looked at her faithful student in the eyes "Twilight, did you just tempt fate?"

Twilight felt her ears droop "I hope not."

* * *

"How is Starlight Breaker doing nowadays?" Celestia teased.

"You know she doesn't like that name." Twilight mock-glared her mentor. "I saw her ten or so loops ago. Apparently a new looper from Ranma's world decided to try yet another desperate attempt to finish the loops and we met at Hogwarts, together with Ranma, Harry, and Hiccup. She says she wants to show a new magic fireworks display next time she's in Equestria... Now that I think of it I fear the day she and Trixie meet."

* * *

"That reminds me, how long has been since the last loop Cadence has been Awake?" the white alicorn asked.

"I... actually lost count." Twilight frowned, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"Enough loops to actually lost count and yet you haven't fallen into madness, my faithful student."

Twilight took a sip of her tea to give herself some time before answering. "It's only because I have everypony looping alongside me. I don't think I could have actually handled living through the loops alone."

Celestia smiled. "Then it's a good thing it doesn't matter if you could or not, because you don't have to."

Twilight, feeling her eyes water, could only nod.

"Twilight, the fact you have lived through so many loops yet we still can meet here to chat calmly means you have grown beyond my and anypony's wildest expectations, so much I can't see you as my student anymore."

"Princess..." Twilight could only say, feeling somewhat numb.

Standing up, Celestia hardened her tone just slightly "Twilight Sparkle, it's my greatest pride and honour to graduate you tonight of your studies of the Magic of Friendship under me. I can only ask of you: Twilight, will you accept my friendship?"

The purple unicorn took a moment to react, but then she threw herself into Celestia's embrace, both nuzzling each other. No more words were needed.

* * *

AN:

Another one joins the gang.

25.1: Auntie is a standard term for an older female close friend or relative, but niece is a bit more specific. Strange, isn't it? That's why Luna decides on sister.  
25.2: References one of the Loops in set 24.  
25.3: There's at least one more lump about the same size of Academic Excellence still to come.  
25.4: Problem solving while drunk.  
25.5: Gilda is an interesting character.  
25.6: This is a crossover of sorts with the Digimon Loops section of the fic collection "Random Thoughts of a Chaotic Mind" by RockBane.  
25.7: Fluttershy fits "druid" SO well. Though her preferred form here is actually an artefact of her relationship with Leman Russ/Lemon Rush.  
25.8: Copy error.  
25.9: Even for the Mane Six, so many years weigh heavily on them.  
25.10: Graduation day. (Mind you, this only really means that now it's grad work. See earlier loop...)


	26. Chapter 26

26.1

"You look a bit down," a voice said.

Gilda looked to one side, and saw a blue unicorn slide into the seat next to her.

"Yeah…" she said, going back to her drink. "I just can't connect with Dash."

"Well, that's hardly surprising…" the blue unicorn said. "I mean, she's not Looping this time."

Gilda's head snapped around. "What?"

"Oh, don't try and cover it up…" the unicorn winked. "You're not bad as actors go, but my special talent is half about misdirection. I'm Trixie Lulamoon, by the way. I was actually one of the newbies until you showed up."

She shrugged. "Besides, you hardly look like a local. Ponyville does grow on you if you give it time, but…"

Trixie held up a hoof. The red stallion running the bar slid over a glass of something fizzy and apple scented.

"…you're not a regular," she finished. "Actually, on that front, how are you finding it here?"

The griffin tried to assimilate everything that had just happened. "Er… not half bad, actually. Best drink I've had in a while, anyway."

Trixie nodded. "Hear that, Mac?"

The stallion nodded.

"This is kinda a new thing – a few centuries old," Trixie said, then winced. "Sorry, that was probably a bit tactless of me."

"You think?" Gilda shook her head again. "This whole thing is difficult to cope with."

"Well, you'll always be welcome here."

"Stop makin' promises for me, Trixie," Mac said amiably, "or you'll make one ah wouldn't have made mahself… one day."

"Not today, though," Trixie shot back. "Anyway, Mac's kind of doing this to help loopers like you – ones who just need a bit of relaxation, you can talk to him about anything. He's really in demand when loopers from other worlds come in, 'cause they're usually from places a lot more, well, violent than our own."

"I wouldn't mind that…" Gilda said, ruefully. "A bit of excitement, I mean."

Trixie's eyes lit up. "Really? You like excitement? Loud bangs, adrenaline, intense risk?"

Gilda nodded, almost against her will. "Yeah, that does sound pretty good right now…"

"Trixie will give you excitement!" With a flash, a hat and cape materialized on the blue unicorn. "Come on, let's go!"

"Go where?" Gilda asked, reasonably.

"That's not the important bit! It's the journey, not the destination." Trixie paused. "Though at this point I think the destination should probably be King Sombra's treasury."

* * *

Shining Armor and Princess Cadence walked warily into the palace of the Crystal Empire, on the look out for the evil being who had once taken it over.

"Dear," Cadence asked after a moment, "why are there so many suits of armour lying around ripped to bits?"

"No idea," Shining admitted. "They look like they got ripped to bits… and that one seems to have been struck by lightning."

"Should we wait for your sister and her friends?" Cadence shrugged. "I don't know how dangerous this might be…"

"No," Shining replied after a moment. "If worst comes to worst, we can always teleport out."

They both heard the singing at the same moment.

Shining built a charge on his horn. Cadence, still thinking a little like a pegasus, took off to be ready to ambush whoever might attack her husband.

"…with a snail if you slow to a crawl," two drunken voices shouted. "But the hedgehog-"

"Wait," Shining said, squinting. "Isn't that… hey!"

The singing stopped.

"You, the blue unicorn," Shining continued, "Aren't you Trixie? Twilight's friend?"

"I am indeed," Trixie replied, bowing deeply. Her hat fell off. "I am indeed Trixie Lulamoon. Queen Trixie!"

"Pardon?" Shining asked, looking at Cadence for any kind of support she might be able to give. She shrugged helplessly, lowering herself slowly to the floor.

Her companion pointed at the battered crown on top of Trixie's head. "See? She's queen 'cause she beat up the king. That's how it works," she added with the assurance of the deeply sloshed, and looked owlishly at the empty bottle she was carrying in her right foreleg. "Hey, your majesty?"

No response.

"That's you," the griffin added, elbowing Trixie, who gave a start.

"Yes! Me. What was it, lord high… thingy… Gilda?"

"We ran out of spoils of victory again."

Trixie looked downcast. "Maybe one of these times we'll get our spoils of victory out of the building before drinking it all."

Cadence plucked the bottle out of Gilda's grip. "This is one of the bottles from the royal reserve, down in the dungeons."

Shining gaped. "You mean… they really _did_ defeat Sombra?"

"It was _so_ cool," Gilda said, with gestures. "Trix went kind of glowy and then grew wings, and then magicked him so hard it collapsed a wall on him."

"Wings?" Shining and Cadence exchanged a glance.

"Hey, you want this?" Trixie asked, pulling the Crystal Heart out of her fallen hat. "I don't want it, but it's shiny."

Cadence' eyes widened.

"Sure," Shining said quickly. "And in return, we'll do all the admin and paperwork associated with your position."

"What?" Trixie blinked, then snatched the crown off her head. "Paperwork, ew. I didn't know it came with paperwork. You want it, Gilda?"

"No chance!" Gilda warded Trixie off.

"Ah well." Trixie drop-kicked the crown into the distance. "Shall we go get some more spoils of war?"

"Sounds good!"

Trixie wrapped them both in magic, and they vanished.

Shining looked at where they'd been for a moment. "…well, that sorted itself out."

* * *

"Trixiiie?" Gilda moaned through a blinding headache, "Why did we do this again?"

"Because you need to learn awesome on your own!" Trixie said, then winced. Flaring her horn, she applied an anti-hangover spell, which took the edge off. "Dash is pretty cool, yeah, but you can't define yourself around her. You need to be your own, er, griffin."

She winked. "Besides, now _you_ have a cool story to tell _her._"

* * *

26.1 omake (Stainless Steel Fox)

(This one may or may not slot in perfectly, but it would have to go here if it did.)

"Hey Gilda! I heard about the way you beat on King Sombra. Awesome!" Rainbow Dash called out.

The bleary eyed griffon just groaned and pulled the cloud she was lying in around and over herself, trying to escape the rays of Celestia's sun and the overly cheery voice of her best friend, though right now she was thinking equicidal thoughts about her. The groan was a mistake, as it was a signal for the pain in various parts of her body to spawn hundreds of lesser pains which then moved out and took apartments in new parts of her body. Nomadic buffalo photons stampeded down her optic nerve and headbutted her brain, intensifying the Rainboom class headache that was already there. Her mouth tasted like a graveyard which had been used by a rave venue by the incontinent... she was hung-over, no, she was HUNG-OVER. Gahhh, Even thinking in capital letters hurt, and so did the tips of her feathers, that shouldn't even be possible!

Griffons had the constitution of a buffalo, or rather buffaloes had the constitution of a griffon, but she and Trixie had drunk about half a cellar of King Sombra's private reserve. Crystal berry wine was sweet, fragrant with a wonderful undertone of honeysuckle and chocolate, and had a kick like an earth-pony on steroids, and that was before it had a thousand years to mature and increase in potency in a high magic environment. So it wasn't just a hang-over, it was a magic hang-over, and even Trixie's magic had only served to ease the pain.

A vial flumped in the cloud beside her. "Here, drink up! This is a little something Apple Bloom whipped up."

"uuuhh. Is it poison? Something quick and painless would go down well right now." At least Dash was being slightly quieter.

"Uh huh, hang-over cure. Guaranteed to move that thunderhead of a hang-over, or your thunderhead cheerfully refunded."

Gilda snatched it up and popped the cork with a claw-tip, then gulped it down. There was no way it could make her condition worse, at any rate. It fizzed over her tongue in a peculiar way, and then she felt as if some-pony had stuck a hose in her mouth and turned it on full blast, and water was shooting out of every pore in her body. She swelled up like a balloon and popped, and when she recovered, the pain was gone. In fact, she was ready to fight dragons.

"Whoa! Now that is what I call a cure! Who is this Apple Bloom, anyway?"

"Earth-pony looper. Kid sister of my friend Applejack. She's been learning Zebra potion magic for… a lot of loops, so she knows what she's doing. She makes them for Mac's Cafe Equestrian. Twilight is taking one to Trixie."

"Huh? You're Awake?" Gilda did a double take.

"Yep, not every-pony Wakes at the start of a loop, sometimes it doesn't happen till much later, though it's pretty rare. Gotta admit, you and Trixie teaming up? Never have figured it, but it makes a lot of sense."

"You're not mad?" Gilda asked, shocked at the warmth she heard in Dash's voice.

Rainbow Dash shrugged, shaking her head. "Having other friends doesn't make your best friendship less... best. I'd be pretty hypocritical if I got mad over you being friends with other ponies."

Gilda chuckled. "I never thought I'd hear Rainbow Dash use the word 'hypocritical'."

Dash joined in. "Yeah... Blame it on the time I looped into a world where Daring Doo was real. I know because I was her. Heh, if ever a loop taught me that being an athelete and an egg-head weren't mutually exclusive that was the one. That pony was in Twilight's league, but bucked flank like us..."

She saw Gilda's face fall slightly. "Hey, buck up, you'll get your own awesome adventures now that you're loopy. What I was saying is friendship isn't a limited thing. The more you have, the more you get, and the more you can share. Speaking of sharing, I was looking you up to share some awesome with you. How'd you like to learn how to do a Sonic Rainboom?"

"You're serious?" Gilda's eyes widened.

"No I'm Rainbow Dash... sorry Hogwarts joke... oh pony-feathers, we've got a _lot_ of catching up to do. Time for a pop-corn memory session with Apple Bloom's way-back machine after this. It can read a person's memories and play them back like a movie. It'll prepare you if you ever end up in the same places, which seems likely."

"I thought you said she was all about potions?"

"That's just a sideline, she's been looping for a long time, and it turns out her talent is putting together really cool tech. She's been in lots of fused loops where things are pretty much science fiction, and learned how to use it. Hmmm... I think we'll start you on an X-Wing, it's robust and fairly easy to get the hang of... that's if you want to learn how to pilot a space fighter. Or maybe a giant robot. Or we can get her to fit you with thruster boots and an atmosphere containment harness and the two of us can take a trip around the moon..."

"Whoa!" Gilda's feathers were toinging out a bit. "I... ahh..."

Rainbow Dash face-hooved. "Nice going Rainbow Crash! Sorry Gilda, I'm doing it again. You need to adjust to the loops at your pace, not be forced into anything you aren't ready for. It's just... I have so many cool things I want to share with you, and I want to do it right now! Look, for the rest of this loop, you set the pace. You want to learn how to do a Sonic Rainboom? Fine. Want to try and get into the Wonderbolts Academy with me? We can do that. Want to just spend the time playing cloudball, surfing the air-currents and kicking back on a cloud while listening to rocking tunes? I'm good with that too."

"That last one sounds real good..." Gilda said, watching for any sign of disappointment in her friend's eyes. There was none, only concern for her friend, and she remembered Twilight's words. Then she made a decision. "But learning a Sonic Rainboom sounds good too."

Dash punched the air with a hoof. "Yes! We are going to have so much fun!"

* * *

26.2

"Twilight, you need to go and retrieve the Element of Magic from-"

Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated. With a flash of light, her Magic tiara rematerialized on her brow. "Done. What now?"

Celestia blinked. "Since when could you do that?"

"It's been a while." Twilight shrugged. "You were saying?"

"Oh, nothing." Celestia got a little smile on her face. "Excuse me, I need to go nail this mirror to the ceiling of a prison cell."

* * *

26.3

The Mayor pointed. "Who is that masked figure?"

Dash followed her gaze, and grinned. "Oh, right, that's the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well. I ran into her once."

The silhouette spread wings and took off, flaring a horn to launch a bolt of ice almost directly at the crowd.

"Whoah!" Dash ducked along with the rest of them, and the bolt splashed off a shield made out of plants.

From inside the shield, a second figure emerged clad head-to-toe in bright forest green. The new pony spread wings and leapt into the air, trees growing from the rooftops as support.

"Hmm, that doesn't seem right…" Dash said. She bent down next to the mayor. "That's I Be Leaf. I've not seen her like this before…"

The blue pegasus tapped her chin. "Hang on a second. I'm gonna go have a look."

She shot upwards, then returned to the ground. "Thought so."

"What is it?" the mayor asked, worried.

"Well, I saw…" Dash counted them off. "Sir George the Dragon, a magic user who might have been Madam Magpie, and the Felicitous Fillies. I think Ponyville might have a superhero infestation. Nothing major, just a Crossover Event."

A pony wearing a red and black outfit and carrying a boffer sword ran up a nearby wall, seemingly having an argument with itself. Another wearing clothes made like shimmering water rode past on a waterspout, and then a pair of gigantic wings blotted out the sun.

"Huh…" Dash blinked. "Maybe I was wrong. That looks like a Crisis Crossover. Everypony down!"

There was a bright flash, and all the battling costumed ponies vanished.

"What just happened?" Roseluck asked, looking around.

Dash shrugged. "I think that was a Cosmic Retcon. The whole storyline got too complicated, so it just stopped."

* * *

"Well, that went well!" Dash said later. "The Mayor was certainly confused…"

"Yeah," Applejack said, sourly, "but it woulda been good if you'd come up with a better superhero type for me. Ah had to be th' Mare-Do-Well."

"Hey, at least you could do all of it at once…" Dash shrugged. "And I think it'd be nice if we perhaps used all of these superhero identities in some other loop."

"Well, I can _certainly_ store the costumes until then," Rarity said cheerfully. "Perhaps we could work out something for you?"

"Ah'd prefer if ah got to use these," AJ replied, summoning her Ember Celica from a subspace pocket. "They ain't used as often as ah'd like."

Rarity's eyes glittered. "One Punch? Hmmm…"

Twilight nodded. "Well, good to know it was funny. And yes, using those costumes again would be nice. Perhaps we could try the whole secret identity thing?"

"That sounds good," Fluttershy said quietly.

"Speak for yourself!" Pinkie said, grinning. She hadn't taken off her Deadpool-inspired costume yet, and all indications were that she'd just wear it for the rest of the Loop.

* * *

26.4

Rarity trotted into the cavern, wearing one of her best dresses. "Hello, mister dragon? I have a business proposition for you."

The dragon growled.

"Here it is," she said, nonchalantly sitting down on the edge of his hoard. "I take items from your hoard and enchant them, making them much more valuable. Then, I go and sell them, and you get gold and jewels equal to the value of the initial investment plus one half of the profits."

"And why should I trust you, pony?" The huge beast sounded almost amused. "This is a transparent ploy to walk off with my most prized possessions."

"No, not really…" Rarity shook her head. "You do insult me, sir. I assure you, this is no ploy." She paused. "Really, must you be stuck in the First Diarchy era? You have to make your gold work _for_ you."

"I find it works quite well as a bed. Now, leave before I flame you out," he said with finality.

Rarity examined a bracelet. "You know, this would look lovely on a mantelpiece…"

The dragon inhaled, then let out a jet of flame.

Lightning-quick, Rarity swept the top layer off her dress and flung it at the dragon's mouth. "Solute!"

The gossamer-fabric quivered, then exploded into at least thirty tonnes of salty water. Dragon's fire met instant wave, and the whole cavern filled with pleasant sea-scent and steam.

"Ah, lovely," Rarity said, sniffing the air. "Oh, are you alright?"

The dragon coughed. "Some of that went up the wrong way!"

"Oh, I am sorry." She shrugged. "But, well, it proves my bona fides, does it not?"

There was a silence.

"…you said two thirds, didn't you?"

"For shame!" Rarity kicked the floor. "I am an artisan, not a day labourer! One third."

"That is robbery!" Snarls echoed in the confined of the cave, though the effect was spoiled by a cough. "Sixty percent."

"Forty-five."

"Fifty, then, curse you."

Rarity smiled broadly. "It's a deal."

The dragon grumbled something about banditry by another name.

"Oh, hush," the unicorn replied. "It's not as though you're the only person around here with jewellery, you know."

* * *

26.5

"And who do you have for us to listen to?" Cheerilee asked, after everyone was done applauding Granny Smith's story.

"Well," Scootaloo said, and paused. "Does it just have to be a parent or whatever?"

Cheerilee considered. "It can be a close family friend, if that's what you mean."

"I more meant… biological. But that's fine." Scootaloo poked her head out the window. "It's okay! Come on in!"

In a blur of multicoloured light, Rainbow Dash skidded to a stop in the classroom.

Well, almost to a stop.

"I'm okay!" she shouted from inside the pile of books, to general laughter. "Er… little help here, squirt?"

Scootaloo and several other fillies and colts dug her out of the collapsed bookcase.

"Right," Dash said, preening self-importantly and trying to look like that hadn't happened, "basically, I'm really, really fast."

There was a long pause.

"Hey, Dash?" Scootaloo stage-whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Little more than that?"

"Okay, whatever." Dash blew her mane out of her eyes. "So, how about I tell you mini-ponies the story of how I got my cutie mark?"

As stories went, it was a pretty good one. Not quite as good as Granny Smith's tale of the founding of Ponyville – every pony in the room could relate to that, whereas only the pegasi had some sense of just how insanely hard a Rainboom was – but Dash told it well, and there were some gasps when she described Fluttershy's fateful fall. (Though, of course, it was fairly obvious that the pegasus was going to survive. After all, she was a common sight around town.)

"Did you really break the sound barrier?" Silver Spoon asked, after Dash had finished. "That's awesome!"

Diamond didn't join in the general approval, but given how nasty she could be Scootaloo considered it good enough that she had stopped trying to undermine the Crusaders.

"Wait a second," Diamond said, frowning.

Scootaloo felt like rolling her eyes. _Spoke too soon._

"Are you Scootaloo's sister or something? If you're so good at flying, how come she's so terrible at it?"

"Yeah, I am," Dash said, so matter-of-factly and coming so close on the heels of the accusation that tears started in Scootaloo's eyes. "We didn't have the same parents, but she's still my little sis. And who cares about being bad at flying?"

Coming from a pony who had just described herself as the most awesome flier in existence, this drew a collective jaw drop.

"…you know what I mean," Dash added, blushing. "Anyway. Flying's what I'm good at. Scoots is good at something else."

She thought for a second. "Hey, I have this theory… Scoots? Want to help me test something?"

The younger pegasus looked up at her. "Let me guess. Terrifyingly dangerous, small chance of success, and pure awesome if it works."

"You know me too well," Dash replied, winking.

Scootaloo was still a little nervous, but… well, Dash was old enough and experienced enough that this was at least partly an act. (After all, a crazy and awesome older sister was worth major kudos.)

"Alright. I trust you."

* * *

"I take it baaaaack!" Scootaloo shouted, looking down at the ground miles below.

Dash grinned. "Hey, this _is_ totally safe."

Scootaloo held on tighter to Dash's rainbow mane.

"…look," the elder pony said, in a much more serious voice. "You _are_ basically my sister. I meant what I said. And I _will_ save you if this doesn't work."

Scootaloo gulped.

"…okay." Closing her eyes, she jumped.

For a moment, she felt completely weightless. Then, as she accelerated, air resistance began to bite.

_Crudcrudcrudcrud! What did Dash say? Air magic, right. Air magic._ Reaching out with her weak but well controlled air magic, Scootaloo began shaping the air stream around her to reduce the air resistance. Another thought hit her, and she began flapping her small wings as fast as she could.

"You're doing fine!" Dash shouted, easily keeping pace. Scootaloo felt vaguely insulted that her mentor was actually doing this while lying on her back.

* * *

Halfway to the ground, Scootaloo was feeling overwhelmed.

She was nearly as fast as she had to be, but somehow getting that little extra speed was beyond her. It was the kind of thing you needed full pegasus wings and strong pegasus magic for, not her half-developed adolescent version.

The air she was shaping was useful, cutting through the atmosphere like a knife, but-

_Wait!_

Like a knife. Or like a well designed fighter aircraft.

Ideas clicked into place. Scootaloo reached out to her magic and twisted – taking the friction and using it to _heat_ the air, rather than minimizing it.

Another thought, and she funnelled that air through the main body of her wind cone, which began to flatten and develop distinctive wings. A slight alteration made it begin to spin.

_Thank you, Lockheed-Martin!_ Scootaloo thought, in the strange euphoria of an epiphany.

Hot air contacted cold, and-

_WOOSH._

* * *

Every child from the school, even Diamond Tiara, started cheering as the curtain of flame spread across the sky.

A rainbow one formed behind it, and then Dash's streak of multicoloured light caught up with a white one trailed by orange flame.

* * *

"What the buck did you just _do_?" Dash asked, laughing hysterically as she kept pace with Scootaloo.

"I think I just made a Blackbird out of weather magic," Scootaloo replied in a distracted tone. "Hey, it's about to fall apart 'cause I can't work out how to make it stop accelerating. Catch me?"

"Always," Dash promised, and, true to her word, plucked the filly out of the air as her fragile air-construct collapsed.

* * *

"Huh…" Scootaloo said, dazed, and stared at her flank again.

What was there was a kind of faded, gaseous aircraft-shape made from sonic boom shock clouds. It wasn't the only cutie mark she'd had, not by a long chalk, but this one was… different, if only in that she'd managed it without any kind of artificial assistance.

Applebloom hadn't stopped laughing since Scootaloo had landed, except to point out between giggles that it was _so _typically Scootaloo to have no idea how to keep an aircraft in one piece.

Scootaloo _had_ tried to protest, but the engineer-filly had reminded her of at least three separate planes that had simply fallen to bits around her thanks to overzealous straining of the airframe.

Sweetie Belle came to Scootaloo's rescue. "Hey, 'bloom? You do realize she's completely stolen the show this time around?"

Applebloom stopped laughing. "Aw… shucks."

"So," Sweetie added, determined to get them all back to normal, "you going to repeat this way of getting your cutie mark?"

"No!" Scootaloo replied, eyes twitching. "Not without at least two different kinds of safety gear."

"What, a helmet and shinpads?" 'bloom snarked.

Scootaloo considered it. "I was thinking more along the lines of the world's biggest trampoline and a Pinkie Promise not to get hurt."

"…actually, that might do it," Applebloom admitted.

"Hey, this gives me an idea for a song!" Sweetie said.

Grateful for the return to normalcy, both of the others threw pillows at her.

* * *

"…she did _what?_" Twilight asked. "No, I did hear you. I just didn't believe you were that irresponsible."

Dash looked down. "Sorry, 'twi. I was going to ascend to save her if I had to."

"I don't doubt it." Twilight tried a smile. "Just… careful, okay? Not everypony is as tough as you."

The pegasus nodded.

Then her eyes widened, and she kicked the wall. "Oh, _buck!_ I should have lent her my Element!"

"Would that have worked?" Twilight asked, more to herself than anything. "I would have thought the cutie mark had to be established… oh, well."

Getting out a notebook, she wrote something in it. "You know this is one of the first times any Crusader has got a cutie mark based entirely off of in-loop actions? I mean, they've got ones before, but usually either when not Awake or when in a Loop somehow different to normal."

"Or they've made it a loop different to normal by building an aircraft or something…" Dash muttered. "Which is more or less what happened anyway."

"True, true…" Twilight acknowledged. "Okay, I think this one's going to be a friendship lesson. By the end of the week, please."

The pegasus groaned. "Not again!"

"Well, you _have_ been a bit crazy these last few loops… perhaps you need to let some steam off…" Twilight frowned. "Wonder when the next giant robot loop is?"

* * *

26.6

"So," Spike said, lying back in the warm sunlight of a new Loop's second day, "what should we do this time?"

"Not sure, really…" Rarity replied, trotting over with a huge towel. She laid it down next to him, making sure it completely covered the grass, then flopped down on it. Obligingly, Spike raised an arm and pulled the edge of the towel under his side.

"Hmmm…" the dragon pondered for a moment. "Fancy a world tour?"

"That might be nice."

"Really?" Spike said, grinning. "I'd only suggested it for a bit of a laugh – are you sure it's fine?"

"Yeah." Rarity winked. "Just give me a day or so to set the shop up."

* * *

"Ready?" Spike checked.

"Of course." The unicorn nodded down the road. "Come on – Manehattan awaits!"

"Out of curiosity," Spike said, as they got going – Loopers could travel light with the best of them, using their subspace pockets to hold luggage easily – "how _did_ you get the shop set up?"

"Oh, I blagged an EMH off of Twilight. You know, the virtual doctor things from the Star Trek place. No AI," she shrugged, "but it should be quite sufficient with a little reprogramming."

* * *

"Hello?" the stallion said, looking nervous. "This is the Carousel Boutique, right?"

With a flash, a unicorn mare appeared in front of him. Her face was composed, and she wasn't quite focusing on him.

**"Please state the nature of your fashion disaster."**

"Er… well, I'm getting married tomorrow, and I don't have a tuxedo-"

The unicorn vanished. There was a shuffling sound from the back room, and then she reappeared in another flash of light.

In her hooves was a neatly packaged suit.

**"Price noted on the package. Please leave your details and feedback."**

Feeling quite thoroughly creeped out, the stallion left his name, address and the money and left as fast as he could.

The suit fitted perfectly.

* * *

26.7

"What is the meaning of this?" Blueblood said, looking down at a rather scruffy earth pony stallion. "Where is your ticket?"

"I told you, I don't _have_ one," the stallion replied. "Look, I never expected to need one, but-"

"But me no buts!" Blueblood shook his head. "This is an invitation _only_ event, and I do not intend to see the wedding of my cousin and her fiancé marred by any old nag off the street!"

"Look, Blueblood, it's me!" The stallion's eyes pleaded. "I don't know where my horn went, but it's me. Shining Armor."

"Tosh!" Blueblood turned up his nose. "Captain Armor is a unicorn of great distinction and rather good breeding. You are some earth pony with a similar cutie mark, trying to con your way into the palace. Guards!"

"What's going on?" Cadence's voice came from the direction of the grounds. "Is it Shiny? He's ever so late, the sun's gone down."

"It's me, Cadence!" the stallion shouted, before Blueblood threw a silencing spell at him.

Cadence flew over the last fence in the way with a little fluttering hop and slowed to a stop, eyes wide. "Oh!"

"Please, cousin," Blueblood's tone softened. "I'm sorry all this hassle is affecting your wedding day, but this is just some tramp who tried to get into the palace under false pretences. Once this is sorted out, then I can see if I can find the Captain. I should have tried sooner."

"No," Cadence said, her voice hitching and close to tears. "You're wrong, cousin."

Her eyes met those of the stallion. "This _is_ Shining Armor. I'd know him anywhere."

Blueblood's reaction to that was, perhaps fortunately, composed of a coughing fit rather than words.

"What happened to you, love?" she asked softly.

Shining tried to speak, but no sound came out. After a moment, Cadence snapped the thread of Blueblood's silence spell and he started in on the explanation.

"It's a curse," he said, his clear voice carrying. "By night one way, by day another; this shall be the norm. Until you find true love's first kiss; then, take love's true form."

"Oh, Shining…" Cadence looked at him for a second longer, then darted forwards and kissed him.

All the spectators covered their eyes against the blinding flash of light.

"…huh," Shining said after a moment, looking down the barrel of his body. "I don't remember the wings from before."

Cadence sniffed. "You were always a prince in my eyes."

* * *

"…plagarists," Trixie muttered, as the moonlit wedding finally got under way.

"Oh, hush," Twilight said, eating some popcorn. "So what if they stole the plot of Shrek?"

* * *

26.8 (Masterweaver)

* * *

Twilight had a BRILLIANT plan this loop. She'd filled her friends in on it, arranged various spell matrices in the Everfree, and just managed to get back in time for the summer sun celebration. On cue, Nightmare Moon appeared, looking down at the crowd of ponies and going into her speech.

"And now, the night! Will last! Forever!"

Twilight smirked internally, opening her mouth-

"I wouldn't be doing that mate."

Twilight blinked.

A strange brown stallion, mane and beard tied up in dreadlocks and beads, swaggered forward. He was wearing a roughshod sort of jacket and a ratty old tricorn, eyeing Nightmare Moon lazily. The goddess of the night gazed down at him dismissively.

"And who are _you_ to oppose me?"

"Oh, nonono. Not opposing the night thing, really. I'm just a humble sailor, stumbled into port for the Summer... set thing."

"...We're landlocked."

"See, that's the problem. I'm completely lost." The stallion waved around vaguely, half stumbling. "Sailor, use the stars to navigate. Love those things, by the way, great lil' pinpricks of light in the sky."

"Twilight," Rainbow whispered, "should we do something?"

The unicorn shook her head slightly. "I want to see how this goes..."

"Ah! So you admit the virtue of the night!" Nightmare Moon stamped a hoof. "Thank you, noble sailor. Now then-"'

"But you see the problem is... if it's night here, then what's it out at sea?" The stallion held up a hoof. "Not. Not night. Thing of it is, if you're out at sea and it's day, you're completely lost. Less you find land. But that only ensures you're a little less lost, less you find a map. You need a lot more equipment when it's not night, then when it's night. You see? I love the eternal night, but put it here, land locked, and when I get out to port I'm not going to be able to see the stars, lass."

Nightmare Moon blinked. "I... see thy reasoning, I suppose. Still-"

"Here's an idea. Let's make eternal night mobile." By now, the stallion had somehow stumbled onto the stage. "You and me, and all us night lovers, we go round the sea. And all the day lovers stay here, on dry land, and grow things. Then, when we get hungry, we walk up, take what we can, and sail off."

"Thou refers to piracy!"

The stallion considered her words. "Hmm. Yes, I think that is the right word."

"Why would we engage in such acts against those whom we wish respect from?!"

"Why wouldn't you? I mean, isn't that what you're doing now?"

Nightmare Moon looked genuinely shocked. "No!"

"Wait, so you're not asking for tribute?"

"No! Of course not!"

"Ah, sorry then. I think I misinterpreted things." He sighed. "Carry on with your hostile takeover, by all means."

Twilight tried hard to keep her face straight.

Nightmare Moon gave the stallion a long, strange look.

He tilted his head.

She snorted, and turned back to the now quite bemused ponies. "As we were saying, the night _will_ last forever-"

"You know, I just realized something."

The alicorn growled, whirling on him. "What?!"

"I think, maybe, the night lasts forever anyway. I mean, the moon keeps moving, and the sun keeps moving, and really the only difference is which is in the sky. So keeping the moon where it is sort of seems redundant to me. Of course, I'm just a very lost sailor. Could be wrong."

"No," Twilight offered politely, "I'm pretty sure you're right." She got a brown hoof wave.

"So what I'm thinking is, keeping night here means that everybody else in the world, they end up not getting night. That doesn't seem fair to me."

Nightmare Moon stared at him as if he was insane.

"Show of hands! Sorry. Show of hooves, who here thinks that the night is too wonderful to keep locked on one place?"

Everypony in the hall shot up a hoof, Pinkie flipping over so all of hers could dangle upward. Nightmare Moon choked.

"Now, see, all these ponies love night so much, they want to share it... with the world. So, back to my original suggestion. Keep the eternal night, but keep it moving. Savvy?"

The black alicorn stared at him. "But... that's just the same thing as what there was before!"

"Is it?" He blinked, glanced up at the sky, and turned back to her. "I hadn't noticed."

Even Twilight wasn't sure if the stallion was being sarcastic.

Nightmare Moon held up a hoof, trying to formulate an argument, but her mouth merely opened and shut in confusion. Finally, staring out at the crowd, she released a frustrated scream. "FINE! Moving eternal night it is! But we're going to be watching closely and if we don't see proper respect for the night, we are going to stick Celestia back in the sun!" With a flash of her horn, she was gone, and a moment later Celestia stepped onto the stage slightly confused.

"Ah... hum. Well. That was... not... expected..."

"I rarely am, love."

Twilight facehooved. Okay, time to host an intervention. Her horn glowed, teleporting the stallion and herself into the library; she had to figure out what the hay was going on.

* * *

"...so this is your first time outside your home loop?"

"I suppose it is." Jack shrugged. "Leastways, this don't look like anywhere in the Caribbean. I take it you've never heard of Davy Jones?"

"No. Well, welcome to Equestria, enjoy your stay, and if you do anything to destabilize or threaten the world I teleport you straight to the moon." Twilight smirked. "Other then that, you're pretty much free to do whatever, mister..."

"Sparrow Jack." He blinked and shook his head. "No, wait. Jack Sparrow. Captain. Captain Jack Sparrow."

"A pleasure to meet you captain. Oh, since it is your first time out of your loop, you'll need the Welcome to the multiverse speech. Oh I'm so excited, this is my frist time giving it!"

Jack Sparrow suddenly felt a sinking feeling.

* * *

26.9 (Masterweaver)

Twilight woke up over a dead mouse. And realized part of it was in her... beak?

Okay so... owl, apparently. Alright, sure. Loop memories... this was still Equestria. Heck, she was in the Everfree forest...

A suspicion rose up in her mind and she took to wing, headed for Ponyville.

* * *

"Ah swear if you make any sort of pun Ah will punt you."

Rarity scoffed. "My word, Applejack, do I look like the sort of feline that would make light of another's situation? I am a refined lady."

The farmdog nodded, managing a wry smile. "Ah guess ya are... should be on the lookout fer Rainbow though. Wait a minute, if we're the pets this loop, then Rainbow-"

* * *

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." Rainbow let out an irritated sigh. Twilight was a short distance away, hooting with laughter and rolling on the ground.

"Now, now," Fluttershy tried, "It's not nice of you to laugh at Rainbow's expense Twi. After all, it... hee... she can't help that she's... hee hee... so slow!" The rabbit tried and failed to hold back her own giggles.

Dash looked between her two friends. Eventually, she just rolled her eyes and pulled back into her shell. "Wake me up when Angel comes round to feed us."

* * *

Pinkie looked in the mirror.

"...well. Bright pink gator. This is one for the record books."

* * *

"Are you sure you want to do this?" the bearer of Kindness asked his pet tortoise.

Rainbow Dash nodded, snapping the goggles over her eyes and checking the straps on her prismatic shell.

Tank let out a sigh, double checking the machinery once again before finally nodding. "Alright then. Tortoise take off in ten." He backed off, ready to catch her with his magic should anything go wrong.

Blades started to whirl, cutting the air with a powerful rumble as the various propellers attached to Dash kicked into gear. Soon enough, the only thing holding her to the ground were the metal struts clinging to the contraption. Tank took a breath, lighting his horn and sliding them away slowly.

As soon as she was free, Rainbow bolted into the air, spiraling and twirling on her magitech glider jet copter thing and letting out a scream of pure joy. Rainbow Dash, fastest tortoise on the ground, was now once again the fastest thing in the air.

The air over Ponyville, anyway. Even Tank's mechanical brilliance wasn't quite enough to give her supersonic speed. Yet.

She'd painted the contraption blue with yellow bolts, much to Tank's amusement. And by Celestia she was going to ensure that she made it.

* * *

"Ah thought Ah was the pet in this relationship," Applejack grumbled to herself. But she couldn't help but smile as Winona emerged from a pile of apples and tumbled down to her paws. "Come on, ya klutz, ya still need to get to the other trees."

Winona didn't understand her, of course-well, she didn't understand what Applejack was _saying_, but the way she pointed toward the rest of the orchard with an orange paw communicated her intent clearly enough. "Oh come on, you silly mutt, I'm dog tired! Maybe I should go see if anypony's willing to lend a hoof." Her face scrunched up. "On second thought, no, that would be GROSS. I'll just ask for their help."

Applejack let out a whuffling chuckle. "No wonder you got Laughter. That sounds like a right fine idea, girl, let's go corral us some ponies." Winona bounced up, beginning to walk off before Applejack bit down on her tail. "AFTER you get all these apples into buckets, girl!"

"Ow! Hey! Down dog!" Winona turned around. "What is it? What's wrong?"

The orange mutt sighed, pointing at the apples.

"...you want to play fetch?"

Applejack facepawed.

* * *

Gummy...

Gummy was a strange one. Everypony in Ponyville knew this. Yes, he gave freely, and often exactly what was needed. Heck, he was even the bearer of generosity! And yet...

Some said it was his eyes. Some said it was his vacant expression. Some said it was the way the earth pony moved so silently, you couldn't hear his hoofsteps on hard cobble. Some, quietly, blamed the genetic quirk that prevented him from growing teeth and made the rare sound of his voice an oddity, though they would never say it out loud.

All in all, something was... off about that pony. How did he know what you needed? Why did he crop up when you needed him, and just as suddenly disappear? Where did he get the stuff he gave, what was his job anyway? Yes, he hung out with his "friends," but... he would smile, frown, and never open his mouth. Never even to eat! Although, given the tooth thing maybe he was just embarrassed.

Strangest of all was his hot-pink alligator. She couldn't talk. No. She _sang._ And danced, but any animal could do that. The toothy grin almost permanent on her face was somehow heartwarming and endearing and not at all predatory. On occasion she even played with young foals; even stranger, if the parents got worried and tried to stop her she would nod and walk away, calmly, as if she understood.

They were an odd pair, Gummy and Pinkie Pie, and nopony really quite understood them.

* * *

Opalescence smiled gratefully as Rarity brought up the appropriate gems. "Thank you, darling. You've quite a good taste, I wish I could make you an outfit." She sighed. "If only you didn't have such long fur... Ah, well. Back to pleasing the idiots in Canterlot."

"Should I take offense to that?"

The white unicorn turned to the brown pegasus walking in through the boutique door. "You're not in Canterlot anymore, you're not an idiot at all, and I doubt princess Philomena would disagree with my assessment of the nobles... so I'm going to say no. Why are you here, Owly?"

"Just warning you there's going to be a storm Tuesday." The pegasus shrugged. "I wasn't aware if you had any important meetings, but I know that impressions are important."

Opalescence nodded at him thankfully. "I'll be sure to have a day in then. Thanks for the heads up."

"Part of Honesty is facts, and I felt I would be denying my element if I left you uninformed."

That got a mild chuckle out of her. "Honestly, you try too hard. You don't see me casting spells left and right. By the way, could you tell Peewee his phoenix has been sneaking over here?"

"Certainly. Has there been any issues?"

"Well, no, not exactly." The unicorn shuddered. "It's just... I... I think I spotted him making out with Rarity!"

The pegasus raised a thick eyebrow. "Truly?"

"I don't know what she sees in him-purple and green feathers, so gauche! And apart from that, she's a cat and he's a bird." Opal shuddered. "Still, I guess I can't actually stop them without spaying her. Not going to do that. Angel gets really aggressive about things like that."

"Mmm, yes. Cloudsdale culture can do that. Very well, I'll try to get Peewee to reign Spike in, but I doubt he'll do it." Owly shook his head. "That young dragon... why did I EVER hatch him?"

"You wanted an intellectual challenge and didn't actually expect your methods to work," Opal deadpanned.

"Ah, yes. Hmm. Oh, have you seen Twilight anywhere? She's been missing for a couple of days."

Opal shrugged. "No clue. Go see if Angel knows anything. The only owl I understand is you." She grinned. "Actually, aren't you up a little early? It's not even evening yet!"

"Oh har de har har. One week of all nighters and you never live it down."

* * *

Fluttershy looked up.

"...so. Let me see if I understand this. You wanted to see if the alicornification spell worked on an owl."

"Yep."

"And now..." She gestured. "You're an owlbear."

Twilight rubbed one of her antlers awkwardly. "Yep."

"...How. How does this even make sense?!"

"Um... I'm still part owl?" The violet giant giggled awkwardly and cringed. "I can fix this, I think. I just need a few things."

Fluttershy sighed, tugging at her long ears. "I'll go see if I can sneak something from Angel for you. What is it you need?"

* * *

26.10 (misterq)

* * *

Twilight woke up in a comfortable bedroom and waited until the memories hit. She was human this loop, and very young. Her name was Tai Lee and she was just about to start fourth grade at Ponneville Magical Elementary School along with her friends, Jacqueline Apple-Smyth, Bonnie Dash, Felicia Shai, Rarity Belle, and... and...

"Oh no."

* * *

Mina Diane 'Pinkie' Pie woke up on a train with a huge grin on her face. Her parents were drilling experts working for BP who had recently transferred to the London division. That meant that she was going to Hogwarts! On one hand she was going to miss all her friends, but on the other hand, she had never had a solo Hogwarts loop before. Also she had hands again now. They always made her giggle. Like five tiny legs on the end of a longer leg.

Neville opened a compartment of a train only to see a strange girl with light red hair giggling while wiggling her fingers. Mustering up what courage he had, he attempted to get her attention, "Um, hello. My name is Neville. Have.. have you seen a toad around here? He may answer to the name, Trevor. I'm afraid mine seems to have run away."

The girl whirled her head towards him and grinned in a wide, and somewhat disturbing manner, "Hi Neville! My name is Pinkie Pie. Actually it's Mina Diane Pie, but everyone just calls me Pinkie Pie. Don't worry about your toad. Gummy and I will help you look!"

"Um, thank you," the young wizards was having second thoughts about asking this girl for help.

"No problem!" Pinkie said and whipped out a small alligator from somewhere, and held it in both hands, "Gummy, find Trevor!"

The alligator just sat there in her grip, only slowly wagging his tail.

"This way!" The girl jumped up and ran out of the compartment. Neville followed cautiously and with growing dread.

* * *

Godric Gryffindor had created the sorting hat with more than a few secrets. One of them was a result of him trying to figure out a way of dealing with children who were advanced enough to have trained their minds to be unreadable by said hat. The quickest way he solved this problem was to make the hat automatically sort anyone who it couldn't read into his house. In addition to getting talented children who had been skilled in controlling their own minds, this little feature would result, over the years, in Gryffindor getting a half-giant boy who would otherwise gone to Hufflepuff, and a werewolf who would have been a shoo-in for Ravenclaw.

So when Pinkie Pie put on the sorting hat, it just yelled out 'Gryffindor' and automatically rebooted itself from the sugar mind-induced magical blue screen of death. She quickly ran down and sat next to Neville at the table. They had found Trevor in minutes. After Pinkie introduced the terrified toad to her alligator, she had declared herself and Neville to be best friends in Hogwarts, whether the boy wanted to be or not. Then, she had proceeded to buy and eat most of the candy that was left on the snack cart. Neville had a feeling it was going to be a very long, very interesting year.

* * *

"You have to calm down," Applejack told Twilight, "I'm sure Pinkie is going to be fine on her lonesome."

Twilight looked over her remaining awakened friends who were all gathered together at the school library, "I'm not worried about that. Do you remember what happened the last time Pinkie had a solo loop?"

Applejack answered, "She turned out just fine. Grew wings and a horn, if I recall correctly."

Rarity paled, "I don't think that is what Twilight is getting at. The last time Pinkie was left alone, she became the chaos goddess of joy and celebration for the entire galaxy. And then there was the time the non-awake version of her became an alicorn princess."

"And now she is all alone in the corrupt an nasty English wizarding world," Fluttershy spoke up, "It's not nearly as horrible as that loop's universe, but it is still pretty bad."

Rainbow Dash asked with slight confusion, "So wait. You're saying that we don't have to go save Pinkie from the English magical world. We have to go save the English magical world from Pinkie?"

Twilight nodded as vigorously as an eleven year old girl could, "Yes. Although it may already be too late."

* * *

Pinkie Pie sat in a small corner of the bathroom with her arms wrapped around her legs. Her long hair was over her eyes and she was trying not to cry. Of course, she realized that she now had the emotional stability of an eleven year old girl. So when Ron Weasely told her that she was extremely annoying and that no one wanted to come to her far too frequent parties, it had hurt far, far more than it should.

Sure, she could go all alicorn party goddess on this loop, but she had the feeling that would end it immediately, and she was kind of enjoying learning human magic.

So when she heard the sound of the bathroom door locking and looked up into the face of an angry troll, she knew she had to take care of this Pinkie Pie style.

Harry Potter and Ron quickly unlocked the door after racing back up the stairs to the second floor bathroom. It took them a while to realize that they locked the troll in with their classmate and hoped that the fact that there was no screaming didn't mean that something horrible had happened.

All their preconceived notions vanished when the door opened. Inside, they beheld a party.

Balloons and streamers were everywhere. A large partially eaten feast was prepared to one side and a massive banner proclaimed in large letters 'Welcome to Hogwarts, Mr. Troll'.

On the other side of the large bathroom, was a large smelly troll who was currently using his club to play a giant magically reinforced game of whack-a-mole. Idly, Harry noticed that that one of the moles popping up resembled a certain potion professor. It was also worth double the points according to the increasing floating numbers designating the troll's score. Pinkie Pie was using pom-poms to cheer him on.

Then she noticed the two boys.

"See? Not everyone thinks my super fun parties are annoying. Isn't that right, Mister Thok?"

The troll, Mr. Thok apparently, nodded and gave a happy grunting noise as he clobbered the Snape-looking whack-a-mole with a club slam that shook the floor a little.

It turns out that fear and awe of an insistent little girl that could control trolls could also be basis for a lasting friendship.

* * *

Twilight was just about ready to teleport the gang over to England on a rescue mission when an owl holding an alligator holding a letter appeared outside her window. The girl slowly and cautiously let them into her room. The very familiar alligator opened its mouth and dropped the letter on her bed before the two flew into her bathroom and closed the door. Soon, there was a sound of her bathtub being filled with water.

"So what does it say?" Applejack tore Twilight's attention back towards the envelope.

Twilight carefully picked up the letter, opened it, and began to read.

_"Hello, friends! This is Pinkie Pie! Hopefully you are all 'awake' and bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, not that we actually have tails anymore, bushy or otherwise, although I'm working on that. I don't know if you all want to come and rescue me from the spooky haunted super magic castle, but I am having tons of fun here learning magic. Most of it even works for me. Well, some of it does._

_I'm no expert, but the fact that I still have earth pony magic and chaos goddess magic running through me, somehow, makes the normal magic I'm trying to learn act all kooky strange. The way I understand it is that it isn't like plugging a DC device into a wall socket with no converter, but more like prying open the battery case and stuffing it full of waldorf salad, hot lava, and magical amulets; then hoping for the best._

_Half the time, my spells work just fine. A quarter of the time, they work, but are either way too powerful or barely powerful enough. And the last quarter of the time, strange things happen. The professors are still trying to figure out how I turned a regular feather into a giant angry unkillable purple tentacle plant that was also on fire._

_They say that that part of the castle will be safe in another few days or so. A week at most._

_Our transfiguration teacher turned into a human from being a cat, but then lied and said 'no' when I asked if she was a moon cat. I don't know who her magical girl is, but I will find out soon. She was also unhappy that when she turned her desk into a piggy, only I was quick enough to be able to ride it out of the room and into the hallway._

_Oh, in other news. I threw a party for a Mr. Thok, who is a giant troll. After some translation from Rubeus Hagrid, who is a vary large hairy man that lives alone in a wooden shed not far from where we kids go to school; Principal Dumbledore just decided to extract Mr. Thok's memories and then threw them into a big bowl. Then he tried to play apple-bobbing, but with memories instead of apples. Then he got really mad and chased Professor Quirrell out of the school._

_Ron, who is a boy in my house and my new friend, asked me to not have so many parties. I happily agreed. Then I met with his brothers, who are twins and love pranks of all sorts. We came up with so many good ideas. So many. I'll try to record some of the good ones so you can see them, Dashie._

_Ron was upset at me when he thought that Gummy ate his missing rat, Scabbers. But I told him that Gummy has no teeth and that I would get him another pet that is much better than his old rat. I'm mixing up several batches of polyjuice potion right now. Not sure what I'll get when I mix bits of every magical animal I can find together and then feed it to the giant freshwater squid, but it has got to be better than a boring old rat, right?_

_Don't worry, the ingredients were super easy to get with the Potions teacher in the hospital. They say something shredded his mind real bad. I have no idea what it was, but I think it tried to get me too because right before he collapsed all twitchy and foamy at the mouth, I had a brief headache. I think it was some kind of invisible mind ghost, but I laughed at it and it hasn't bothered me since._

_Actually those last parts happened around Halloween, which is three months from now. And I think Gummy should now be done with his bath. In ending, hope everything is fine with all of you. Don't come 'rescue' me. I'll write you guys another letter when a good time to go visit would be._

_Toodles,_

_Pinkie Pie."_

When Twilight finished talking, the owl swooped out of the bathroom carrying the newly cleaned alligator. The alligator opened his mouth and a giant red swirling portal formed in front of the two animals, closing quickly once the two flew inside.

For a moment, no one spoke. Then Applejack stood up and calmly put her hat on her head, "See. I told you she was fine. Everything is fine. I'm going to go home now and pretend really hard that magical Pinkie Pie is farther than only half the world away. Goodnight, all."

* * *

AN:

26.1: Trixie and Gilda. They Cause - er, I mean, Fight - Crime.  
26.1 omake: As noted, this one's a bit complex. Basically, the bit with the hangover was sufficiently funny that moving the events therein to the next loop would have sacrificed too much funny.  
26.2: Mental picture of Sunset Shimmer jumping futilely to try and get back up to the mirror.  
26.3: Costumed superhero bonanza.  
26.4: Speak softly, and carry an enchanted dress.  
26.5: This started as a quick character piece, then got away from me.  
26.6: There's a pile of ready made outfits in the back room. And the basement.  
26.7: Yes, that's a potted version of Shrek. Also, hopefully this makes Blueblood a bit more sympathetic.  
26.8: Well, that's one way to get eternal life. Savvy?  
26.9: Wonder what that makes Shining Armor?  
26.10: I can only imagine how hard it was for the author of this one to manage a Pinkie Pie POV.


	27. Chapter 27

27.1

"All the cakes have been sabotaged!" Pinkie gasped. "I know just what to do!"

The others looked at her sceptically. "Really?"

"Yeah!" She pulled a clockwork pigeon from her mane, slotted in a key, and wound it up. After a few turns, she lifted it to her mouth and spoke slowly and clearly. "I need your help. Come quick."

The earth pony trotted briskly to the window and threw the pigeon out.

It flew exactly as well as a dense lump of metal would be expected to fly, bounced off the gravel, and exploded into a cloud of gears and springs.

"You rang?" Discord asked, coming through a trapdoor in the floor.

Pinkie clapped her hooves. "I knew that would get your attention!"

"Actually, you were just passing by. I was having a sleep."

"Where?" Gustav asked, looking out the window. "There is not any lights for miles…"

"The sleepers, duh." Discord turned to Pinkie. "So, what's up?"

"Someone's been eating the cakes!" Pinkie said, pointing. "That one, and that one, and those two."

The chaotic draconequus snapped his fingers and materialized a magnifying glass, deerstalker hat and bubble pipe.

"No, sorry…" Pinkie shook her head. "We already did that one."

Discord looked downcast. "What about if I speak in zee foreign accent, like zee great Parrot?"

A rolling pin bounced off his head.

"I think Gustave finds it offensive." Pinkie retrieved the rolling pin and passed it back to him. "Eight out of ten for accuracy, but only a six for force."

Discord got out a long list. "Hmmm… magical private eye?"

"Twilight did that one."

"Secret agent?"

"Yes?" Joe answered, then paled. "Oh, what a giveaway!"

Getting out his magnifying glass again, Discord perused the list. Having a quick peek, Mulia was none the wiser. "List of mystery plot protagonist stereotypes? What's that supposed to mean?"

Discord glanced over the paper at her. "And so much for ninja, as well. Right, that's it, I'm completely out of stereotypes. They've all been done."

Pinkie passed him a PADD. "What about the hacker?"

"…I was just testing you," he said unconvincingly, and pulled a cord out of the back of the PADD. "Right…"

He typed on the little computer seemingly at random, occasionally saying things like 'disabling code walls' or 'hacking all IPs simultaneously.'.

Eventually, he held it up triumphantly. "I have it! It was the butler!"

Everyone else on the train gave him a _look._

"…fine, then, don't trust the hacker." Discord snapped his fingers, and the damage to the cakes was repaired. "Right, I'm going back to my nap."

Opening the trapdoor again to reveal a long set of spiral stairs, he walked down them muttering and was out of sight.

Mulia shook her head. "Did that just happen?"

Pinkie shrugged. "Hey, we got our cakes back, right?"

* * *

27.2

Cadence trotted over to the door. "Coming!"

When it creaked open, she saw one of the palace maids standing there.

Her eyes narrowed, then widened. "Oh, you poor thing! Shining, come here!"

The unicorn cantered over. "What is it, dear?"

"The poor thing's starving, look!" Cadence pointed to the maid, who was now looking a little confused. "Can we help her?"

"I don't know…" Shining said, dubiously.

"Please?" Cadence did her best puppy-eyes.

Shining gave in. "Alright, dear. You know best."

She nibbled his mane affectionately, then they touched horns. A brief pulse of bright pink magic flared up, and the maid collapsed.

A moment later, there was a crackle of green energy, and Queen Chrysalis lay revealed and blinking up at them. "What…"

"That should do you for a bit," Cadence said with a smile. "We'll get you sorted out with more love later on, but for now you need a bit of rest."

The ruler of the Changelings thought about that.

_Eh, may as well go along with it._

* * *

27.3

"Hm…" the mouse said, squinting up at Twilight. "I'm afraid you're a little… big to fit in the door."

Twilight examined it. "I think I could squeeze in… but you're right, best not to risk it."

"I'll get the cooks to send you out food, then." The young mouse lay back on the springy roadside grass, looking up at her. "By the way… would you mind helping us with what comes up next in our Loop?"

"Not at all," Twilight replied.

"Good." A chuckle. "Cluny's still kind of a threat – he's hardly an idiot, and getting together all the bits of Martin's armour isn't as safe as it could be – but since the biggest defender we normally have is a badger…"

After a short pause, Matthias looked up again. "How are you at puzzles?"

"I'm alright." Twilight shrugged. "I don't often get new ones, to be honest, which is a bit of a pain."

"You'll like our Loop, then. Hold on a minute, I'll write down the first one we normally run into. It's hidden in the great hall."

Twilight smiled as the mouse scampered off. He seemed quite a pleasant fellow… although everyone here was so small compared to her that it was setting off Fluttershy-Squee responses.

* * *

27.4

There was a knock on the door, and the Crusaders looked up from their card game. "Come in!"

The door creaked, admitting a black filly in a cloak. "Hi, everypony, Twilight said you were all – wait, what's she doing here?"

Diamond Tiara stared. "What are _you_ doing in here?"

"I asked first!" The filly stamped a hoof and stuck her tongue out. "So there."

"Should we do something?" Applebloom asked quietly.

"Nah," Scootaloo replied, putting her cards down face-down. "I'll go make some milkshakes."

"I am Diamond Tiara," the earth pony said, posing briefly. "I was invited. Officially, and everything."

"Seriously?" The filly shot a pitying look at Sweetie Belle. Then turned back to Diamond. "Wait, why did you _accept?_"

"I answered your question," Diamond replied, pointing. "Now you answer mine."

"I'm a Crusader as well!" The filly turned, showing off her cloak. "See?"

"Well, I've never met you."

"Look, are you guys Looping or not? 'cause now I'm wondering if this is a bizarre alternate Equestria…"

"This is coming from you?" Sweetie asked, and the filly blushed.

"We _are_ looping," Applebloom said. "All four of us."

"…oh." With a flap of wings that had been hidden under the cloak, the newcomer revealed herself to be an alicorn. "Hi, then, I'm Nyx. I'm kinda Princess Luna's dark-but-not-evil side, it's complicated. Sorry I reacted so badly, I once nearly got et by monsters 'cause of a different version of you."

"Fair enough." Diamond shrugged. "I hope to show I've learned my lesson."

Nyx gaped. "Seriously, guys, is this an alternate universe version of Diamond Tiara? This is really confusing me. No offence."

"Some taken," the pink filly replied.

Sweetie and Applebloom exchanged looks. "Was that a seven?"

"Eight!" Scootaloo shouted from the kitchen area, and came over balancing five milkshakes on hooves, wings and forehead. "…can somepony take these, please? I didn't give nearly enough thought how to get them down again."

Nyx and Sweetie lifted some down, passed one on to each earth pony, and sat down with their own.

"So…" Diamond said, awkwardly, "tell me how it is that you, er… exist."

"Well," Nyx replied, "when an evil cult and a dark goddess love each other very much, and then they fluff a magic ritual designed to resurrect the evil goddess by using the blood of Momma – that's Twilight Sparkle – they get a ball of fluff and feathers with no memory of her past life. That's me. And then I got raised by Twilight for, like, a month or so, before the evil cult brought back my memories of being evil."

Applebloom cut in. "Yeah, a thousand years of evil rage ain't much compared to a month of talkin' to Twilight."

"Pre-tty much." Nyx looked down. "This is really good milkshake. Anyway, took over the world, didn't feel like it, gave the world back, and then 'cause of super luck I got Looping. I don't turn up much, but I can't complain."

Diamond nodded along. "Yeah, that's about the second strangest thing I've ever heard."

"Second?" Nyx asked, interested.

"Jewel Scouts," all the others chorused.

"…yeah, I'll ask later. Hey, what game are you playing?"

"It's called Chaos. Discord gave it to us for playtesting." Applebloom picked up her cards, and blinked. "I could swear I had a different set of cards five minutes ago."

* * *

27.5

"Okay, here we are," Twilight said, ushering the other five Elements in. "This is our new headquarters."

They looked around the single large room. There was a large projector on the ceiling, a complex mess of scientific equipment at one corner, and three sets of double doors leading off the central area.

"Well, it looks nice…" Rarity said, with a moue of distaste for the furnishings. "I assume I can touch it up a bit?"

"Feel free," Twilight replied. "Now, this is the pantry."

Trotting smartly over to the first set of double doors on the north wall, she opened them to reveal a vast, cavernous room with dozens of aisles of freezers and cupboards. It looked like there was enough food in there to feed them for three years.

"Where do we prepare it, then?" Pinkie asked. "There better be a good kitchen!"

Twilight smiled, and opened the second set of doors – the east wall – to reveal a kitchen that could cater for a hotel.

"Wait, wait…" Dash frowned. "Food is cool, but what about… you know."

Twilight nodded to the doors on the west wall. "Through there is the bathroom, showers, toilets, hot tub, spa and swimming pool."

The others looked at her with confusion. "Hold on a minute," Applejack said, voicing their thoughts, "Where do we sleep?"

The unicorn gave a mysterious smile and opened the north doors, revealing a much larger version of her own bedroom. Closing the doors and opening them again, this time an enlarged version of Dash's room was revealed.

With gradually dropping jaws, the Elements watched as Twilight opened the three double doors in a seemingly random pattern to reveal four more large bedrooms, a games room, a library, a gymnasium and a room full of seemingly random junk.

"Anyway," she said, finally shutting the third set of doors on a wardrobe large enough that it had a railway line on the floor, "I've printed up some adverts saying we do anything, any time. So if there's a problem anywhere in Equestria and somepony needs our help, they'll come to us."

* * *

27.6

"This is the third one of these crimes in the last month," Sergeant Stronghoof reported grimly. "Mode of operation is always the same. Jewellery stolen, box open, but the rooms are always locked. It's a locked-room mystery, sir."

Shining blinked. "...over half the population in this city is _unicorns_, sergeant. What's so significant about a locked room?"

"Yeah," Stronghoof said, nodding. "I know it's not a big deal normally, but all the owners swear blind the rooms don't normally have locks on them."

"…oh." Shining trotted over to examine the door more closely. "That's not subtle, that's showing off. And this magic got past the house owners?"

"Yep." Stronghoof consulted a pad of paper. "Which is rather strange, because they're all very skilled mages who would detect this kind of thing normally."

"Sir!"

Shining and the sergeant both spun to face the young guardsmare who'd spoken. "What is it, Rosette?"

"Sir… there's a letter for you outside, captain."

"Right." Shining made for the door. "I think I can handle this myself, sergeant."

"Wait – but – sir?" Stronghoof sputtered for a moment, then cantered after the captain.

When he left the building, however, he saw no sign of the guard captain, and a torn envelope on the floor.

* * *

A blue unicorn leant back against a chimney tower, feeling pleased with herself.

Then, with a rush of wings, a white figure landed in front of her. "Give yourself up!"

"Like hay!" she shouted back. "Wait. S – the S stands for _Shining?_"

Trixie Lulamoon, professional criminal, collapsed on the roof heaving with laughter.

Shining looked down at himself. "I didn't think it was _that_ bad…"

"You're wearing… oh, hee…" Trixie stifled her giggles with an effort of will, and rolled back upright again. "You're dressed as _superman?"_

"Super-_pony_, thank you very much." The stallion shrugged. "I've already got the shield, the ability to fly, and the invulnerability – with the right spell. You don't think it fits…?"

Trixie shook her head. "Nope. Does Cadence know you do this?"

"Actually…" Shining pointed.

Hooves clattered on the stonework as a second alicorn touched down next to them.

Trixie collapsed with laughter again.

"I feel hurt…" Cadence said sadly.

Shining put a wing over her. "Don't worry, Wonder Mare."

"Wonder mare!" Trixie gasped out.

"Well, you're one to talk," Shining said stubbornly. "I mean, you _are_ acting the supervillain this time."

Trixie wobbled as she climbed back to her hooves for a second time. "Yeah, thanks for – pfft – for reminding me." She tapped the side of her neck, and the alicorn amulet dropped from where it had been hidden to dangle freely.

"…wuh-oh…" Shining muttered.

"Isn't that thing evil?" Cadence asked, frowning.

"Not quite evil _per se_." Trixie shrugged, a red glow developing around her. "It's an emotional amplifier with magical feedback and it makes you very short tempered, and it affects your judgement, but if I'm right then I shouldn't be much more impetuous than I normally am."

"And if you're wrong?" Shining said, a sinking feeling stealing over him.

"Well, in that case, it's nice we're all in costume," Trixie shrugged. "Should I tell you to Kneel Before Trixie, or shall we skip to the fight scene?"

"…next time, we choose different costumes!" Shining hissed to his wife.

"Aw…" Cadence replied, pouting. "But I like these ones…"

* * *

Twilight clicked her stopwatch as red/pink/blue magic erupted over the city of Canterlot. "…six hours, five minutes, twelve seconds between putting it on and resorting to force. Well, she's getting better at controlling it…"

"Is this really worth it?" Spike asked. "For the research side of it, I mean."

Twilight shrugged. "Borderline. But as for the show she puts on…" she slid a bag of popcorn over to him, and opened another after flash-heating it with a quick spell.

Spike nodded. "Fair enough." He started eating his own popcorn, as flashes like lightning bounced off the clouds. "Think we should sell tickets?"

* * *

27.7 (misterq)

"It was us, Mistress Rarity," said the leader of the Diamond Dogs as all the other canids ran towards the surface in sheer panic, "We didn't means to, but we dug deep. Too deep."

"What? What have you unleashed?" Rairty asked, even as she prepared her emergency teleport spell.

"No time! No time! They'll be here soon. We must flee!" The alpha dog said before he, too, ran for the exit.

Rairty glanced back towards the mine when she began to hear it. It started quietly, like a whispering brook; but slowly intensified as the distance between decreased. The pale unicorn managed to pale even further, her eyes diminishing into pinpricks, as she finally recognized the sound that she would never ever forget for as long as she existed.

The sound of, "Fun? Fun? Fun! Fun! Funfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfun!"

* * *

27.8 (Stainless Steel Fox)

* * *

Academic Excellence (Final part)

* * *

When Lightning Dust arrived in the mess hall the next morning, there was something different about her, her usual self confident attitude absent along with the grin on her face. The other Ponyville ponies were sitting with Dash as usual, and they quieted and turned to look at her as she came up to the table. Lightning Dust looked almost ready to turn and bolt, but Dash gave her a slight nod and a reassuring grin, so she visibly gritted her teeth, screwing up her courage to say something.

"Uh... Hey, every-pony. Good day for flying..." She tried a grin, but it didn't seem to lighten the others expressions. She sighed. "Look, guys, I've been doing a lot of thinking, about what you all said last night, about what Dashy said, and I want to say... I'm sorry!"

That seemed to mollify them somewhat and, encouraged, she continued. "I guess I've been acting like a jerk, to all of you, but I don't get this touchy-feely stuff, I've always worked alone because, well it's hard for me to slow to other ponies speed! I love going fast and looking awesome doing it! I never figured out this whole 'getting along with other ponies' thing because I never needed it. "

She shook her head, shaking out her mane. "But Dash was right. No Wonderbolt ever flew solo. If I ever want to join them, I need to learn. I know I haven't exactly given you much reason to help me, but that's what I'm asking for. Please, could you guys give me a helping hoof?"

The other ponies looked back and forth between themselves, and finally Thunderlane spoke for them. "Okay... I guess we'll soon see if you're full of cumulus or not."

After food, the group trooped out to the runway for that day's exercise. Spitfire was there, apparently getting her ears cleaned out with a sonic blast as one of her cohorts blew a reveille right next to her. However, it didn't seem to affect her speech as she gave them their mission.

"Today we'll be doing our famous air obstacle course. The object of this exercise is to work on your precision flying under extreme circumstances. And don't worry about winning. It's not a race."

Every-pony in the cadet line up looked towards Lightning Dust, who had the good grace to blush.

"Now everypony, get on your marks!"

They dusted off in pairs, Snowflake and Cloudchaser in the lead, with Thunderlane and Raindrops then Milky Way and Wildflower behind them. Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust were the last pair waved off the runway.

Lightning Dust spoke as soon as they were air-borne. "Okay, let's do this... don't worry, I've got it, not a race, right?"

"Yep!" Rainbow Dash replied, "Doesn't mean we can't stay in perfect synch and blow every-pony away with our precision flying. Just give me a vector!"

Lightning Dust was unsurprised to find that when they got in the assigned air-lane, Dash stayed on her wing as if nailed there. They swept through the cloud hoops and weaved around the rising clouds like they weren't there and even though they weren't pushing it, they soon came up behind Milky Way and his partner.

"Aw stratus! I can't see a way past without getting out of our track!" Lightning Dust exclaimed. Then she realised what she'd said, and looked over at Dash. "I guess we're stuck here then?"

"Not if we ask for help." Dash replied. "This isn't a race, like the lady said. Besides, I've got a manoeuvre that'll work. The Flying Cross!"

An quick explanation and a demonstration with her fore-hooves showed Lightning Dust what to do.

"I like it!" Lightning Dust replied eagerly. "Uh guys... Milky Way wasn't it and..." A whisper from Rainbow gave her "... and Wildflower. We need to pass, just stay straight and level, okay?"

"You only have to ask." Wildflower called back.

"Huh, I guess so." Lightning Dust replied, surprised at how easy that had been. "Ready?"

At Rainbow Dash's nod, they powered forward, doing a roll around a common centre. They swept past the other two ponies at right angles, Dash below and Dust above, their wing-tips forming a cross with the wings of the other ponies. They completed their roll-out without mussing a single hair in the manes of the others, though the conditions made that difficult to see.

"Aw yeah!" Dust punched the air. "We can blaze through this course like that!"

"Sure, if you want to do it the easy way..." Rainbow grinned.

"What're you talking about pony?" Lightning Dust asked back.

"Well, remember my vortex manoeuvre right back the first night? We could pick up the other six as trailers and go for an eight way formation. That should knock every-pony's goggles off!"

"That would be pretty awesome!" Lightning Dust called back. "You guys up for that?"

"Just watch us!" Wildflower exclaimed. They flew up behind the leading ponies as the two started to rev up their wings. Dash and Dust blasted forward, and drew Milky Way and Wildflower after them. The two rear ponies were straining to keep up, even with the aid of drafting behind the leaders, but they stayed on their tails through swerve and swoop and loop the loop.

They caught up with Thunderlane and his wing-pony soon after, and flying crossed past them before making the same offer, and finally Cloudchaser and Snowflake just before the nastiest part of the course where the storm winds started. Both pairs quickly agreed to the plan.

The eight ponies formed a double line as they followed the leader, punching their way into the lightning filled storm tunnel. Dust powered ahead, creating dead air as Dash did the same beside her, and felt rather than saw the change as Wildflower behind her started to slip out of the formation. An extra side blast of her wing rebounded the air-flow to bring her back into line, and she called back, "Keep it together!"

Lightning Dust wasn't going anywhere near as fast as normal, but she found to her great surprise that she wasn't bothered about it. The ponies behind her were sticking to her tail like a cloud-burr, following her every move, relying on her to guide them, and she found she was enjoying it. Dash was letting her call the shots as lead-pony, and she suddenly realised she wanted to be worthy of that trust.

The storm lashed at them, and the ponies controlling the lightning fired off near misses that practically singed their manes, but the eight ponies powered on through. Then they reached the final stage, moving horizontal bars of air.

"Okay, let's buck it up a notch and go over and under!" Lightning Dust called out. The eight ponies rippled up and down as they went through at full speed, and powered out of the other side still tightly together in their wing pairs.

"Okay, the big finish!" She called out. "Let's land in formation, every-pony aim to drop hooves at the same time, if you guys figure you can!"

"Just watch us!" Thunderlane called forward, and Snowflake yelled "YEAH!"

They blew in like a stray gale, slamming hooves down and sliding out to a stop on the runway in front of Spitfire. If the clap of hooves wasn't perfect, it was only by a fraction of a second.

"An eight way formation?" Spitfire's glasses actually slid down her muzzle and she quickly pushed them back up. "Impressive. You do know you didn't have to do that?"

"No-pony said we didn't either ma'am!" Lightning Dust replied, saluting and trying to hold back a big grin with indifferent success.

"Well, it worked." Spitfire shook her head as she consulted her stop-watch. "That might just be the fastest time any group of cadets ever pulled on the obstacle course. Okay, you can all hit the mess. Dismissed!"

"Woo hoo!" "YEAH!" "How's that for kicking some cloud!" The ponies broke formation and celebrated. As they went off, Spitfre motioned Lightning Dust over. "A word, cadet."

Lightning Dust suddenly lost her grin as she started to worry she might have been too cocky about their win. She glanced at Dash and took some comfor4t from the lack of worry on her face. Dash knew Spitfire better, and she wasn't the type to enjoy seeing another pony get hammered.

"Don't worry cadet, I just wanted to congratulate you on the way you lead the flight." Spitfire looked over the top of her shades. "I'm glad to see you've overcome that attitude control problem you had yesterday."

"But I didn't..." Lightning Dust did a double take. Had Spitfire just made a joke? "Yes ma'am, thank you ma'am!"

The Academy head returned the salute and glanced over at Rainbow Dash. "Looks like I made the right decision, pairing the two of you together. You make a great team."

As she walked away, Dash preened.

"Oh yeah! We bucked that cloud all the way to Las Pegasus!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, raising her hoof for a hoof bump which Dust returned. "Well, all that awesomeness has made me feel hungry."

"Me too!" Lightning Dust replied, flapping out her wings. "I feel the need... the need, to feed!"

Laughing and chatting the pair headed off towards the mess.

* * *

"... and that was the second time I kicked out a Sonic Rainboom. Of course, every-pony has seen me do one plenty of times since, right guys?"

There was agreement from the lined up cadets.

Lightning Dust shook her head. "I'd heard rumours, but I'm still having trouble believing it's even possible!"

"Heh!" Rainbow Dash gave her a companionable slap on the saddle with a wing-tip. "Tell you what, I'll show you how. I've always wanted to try it with another pony, and I think you've got the power to pull it off. You just need training. I've asked this lot, but..."

"None of us are that nuts!" Thunderlane finished with a chuckle.

The rainbow maned pegasus' eyes suddenly widened. "Oh yeah, I got a letter from Pinkie. She's so happy to hear how well we're doing that she and the girls are bringing us a care package."

That whoops of appreciation from the other Ponyville ponies. They all knew how great Pinkie's parties were. Knowing how nuts Pinkie had gotten the first time, Rainbow generally made sure to send regular updates on her progress, even when they were all Awake and otherwise pretty much following a base-line loop. However, that didn't stop Pinkie being Pinkie, or finding any excuse to throw a party.

"I figure we'll set up on a cloud outside the Academy this evening after training, as long as we don't break curfew we should be fine. They'll be bringing a lot of food, we can charge up a nimbus and roast some marshmallows, surf some air-currents, play cloud-ball, rock out to some tunes... It's going to be awesome!"

"Whoa there pony!" Lightning Dust exclaimed. "You said these were earth-ponies and unicorns... won't they fall through?"

"Twilight can do a cloud-walking spell easy. Though she might try something more interesting..."

There. If one of her friends wanted to go alicorn for the night, she could pass it off as an improved Wings spell Twilight had created.

"It sounds great, Am I invited?" Lightning asked, not brashly as she might one have, but hopefully. She'd never realised how good it was to be part of a group, or that you could do it without giving up being you. Despite yesterday, she was still feeling her way into her new relationship with these ponies, and didn't want to wreck it.

"Heck yeah!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Right guys?"

Wildflower spoke up. "If she hadn't helped me recover in that formation exercise, I'd have spun out and wrecked the whole thing. I never got to thank you for that, Lightning. So thanks, and we'd love to have you."

"You're as nuts as she is!" Thunderlane added without heat. "So maybe with you on our side, a cloud-ball team will have a chance against Dash. So sure, the more the merrier!"

As the others gave their approval, Rainbow saw Spitfire approaching out of the corner of her eye, and gave the others the high sign. By the time the instructors got there, the cadets were lined up at attention and silent.

"Today is a competitive exercise. You will be working in your wing-pairs to clear the clouds." Spitfire looked over the group and was pleased to see that much of the tension she'd seen before had dissipated, though a couple of the other cadets glanced at Rainbow Dash and suppressed smirks when the nature of the exercise was stated. "Any questions?"

Whatever else was going on, there were none so she signalled to Whiplash to blow the whistle and start the exercise. The other cadets flew up in staggered pairs and started punching out clouds in a methodical manner, trading off the lead as each hit a cloud and demolished it, hitting their weak spots. However, they didn't have chance to get far.

"Okay, let's go!" Lightning Dust yelled out, blasting through the first cloud she saw without stopping.

"Way ahead of you!" Rainbow Dash called from up ahead as she flew between two close together clouds and used an aileron roll to create a temporary vortex that drew them in and mashed them to pieces. "The trick is to keep it small and tight, bigger is not better, just harder to control."

The two went through the air like greased lightning, indeed Lightning Dust's contrail heightened the likeness. As they approached having cleared three quarters of the sky, Dash started to slow down.

"Hey, you getting tired?" Lightning Dust called out as she came alongside.

Rainbow Dash gave back a cocky grin . "As if! No, I just figured we could let the rest of the guys have some too."

"This is a competition!" Lightning Dust replied, frowning, and slicing a cloud apart en-passant with a wing-tip and a burst of weather magic.

"You don't think we've won?" Rainbow Dash asked, veering to point a hoof back at the vast swathe of clear sky.

Lightning Dust gave a tight shake of her head. "No, but I want to finish this properly. I don't want to say I did less than my best. Even if it costs me that invite."

"If it does, it won't be from me. None of them are sore losers, and you're the lead-pony in this formation, so let's go!"

They blew away the majority of the remaining clouds in moments, and came in to land ahead of the other teams. The target area far over the Academy had been much larger than the valley of Ponyville, but it had only taken them a couple of minutes total.

As the other pairs flew down to land around her, Lightning Dust looked around. No-pony seemed particularly annoyed that they'd been utterly out classed.

"It was a competition. I wasn't going to hold back, okay?" she exclaimed defensively.

Vast amounts of spontaneous rage failed to materialise, and Lightning Dust looked relieved. "So no-pony's mad?"

"Pfft! Like any-body stood a chance against Miss 'Clear a sky in ten seconds flat' over there even by herself." Cloudchaser replied.

Milky Way added. "No-pony's going to buck lightning over some-pony winning fair and square. Or if they are, they're idiots."

"Thanks... Wait? Ten seconds?" The green pegasus turned to Dash. "You were holding back?"

"I was sticking with my lead pony." Dash shrugged. "And Ponyville's in a valley. Smaller sky area."

Whiplash had only just finished adding checks to the chalkboard, as they'd actually destroyed the clouds faster than he'd been able to mark it off. He turned to go to fetch Spitfire with a somewhat sandbagged expression, when a half scale glowing white alicorn alighted by Rainbow Dash. It had a slight haziness moved rather like solid smoke.

It spoke in Twilight's voice. "Rainbow Dash! We've got a problem! We were skirting the edge of the Everfree Forest on the way to the Academy and we picked up an unwanted stalker. It's a massive cloud but it's acting like a creature. It's chasing us and with the balloon so heavily loaded, it's all we can do to stay ahead of it. We need help!"

An image projected from its horn of a towering cumulonimbus, but with black triangular holes as eyes and a gaping maw with continuous arcs of lightning forming the outline of jagged teeth. Great tornadoes of streaming cloud formed arms that left trails behind them, sucking any in any cloud that got too close. The image wavered for a moment, then vanished, as did the alicorn.

"Oh pony-feathers!" Dash exclaimed, "I read about them in the old weather-pony logs for Ponyville, but I thought they were just an old pony tale made up by some-pony who'd had one too many mugs of Granny Smith's special reserve!"

Inwardly she was given furiously to think. Had Twilight set this up as some sort of alternative test of character? It was probably clear from Dash's last letter that she'd pretty much derailed the regular plot. She was certainly holding back, as any of the ponies in that balloon could probably have taken it out. But Twilight wasn't the sort to drop something on any-pony unannounced, and Dash _had_ read about such things in the old weather-pony logs, and it was an Ursa Major threat level for any-pony who wasn't an immortal alicorn.

"What the hey was that!" Lightning Dust gasped, and she wasn't the only one.

"The silver thing? A communication spell Twilight's been working on. The cloud? A Tempest, right out of the Everfree forest. Remember, clouds move by themselves over there, and the place is lousy with magic. No-pony knows how they form, but it's similar to a Timberwolf, a vicious predator that feeds on magical energy..."

She turned to the stunned Whiplash and yelled. "Go get Spitfire, scramble every-pony you can and head after us! Head south southeast. We'll need all the help we can get!"

As he galloped off, the other cadets were looking equally surprised. Cloudchaser shook her head. "I can't believe they're real... Wait, did you mean..."

"We're the only ponies on the runway, they'll need time to get organised and Twilight and the others may not have that long... I know it's not what you signed up for, but some-pony has to delay it and get the balloon clear. And I _know_ you're the ponies for the job!"

The other Ponyville ponies looked back and forth, and you could see their expressions firm up along with their resolve and their wings.

She turned to Lightning Dust. "We have to go, they're in danger and they need our help."

Lightning Dust gulped. That thing was horrifying, every pegasus' worst nightmare, but she was a Lead pony, and she couldn't let the others go and hide here, not and look at herself in the mirror in the morning. "Okay, but you're going to tell us everything you know about this creature on the way."

She dusted off, and the others followed her, or more probably Dash, who filled them in on what little was known. These things made Timberwolves look bright, but they were still dangerous as they would attack whatever attracted their attention. A large mass of ponies could drive them back with their combined weather magic, but it would take all the pegasi in Ponyville to do the job.

It was crazy, Rainbow Dash clearly knew the thing and all the other ponies followed her, but she was acting as if she expected Lightning Dust to give the orders. Yes, as Lead pony of the highest scoring wing-pair, she was effectively the leader of the group, but she was beginning to realise as never before the difference between authority and leadership.

She panicked for just a second, but something in her realised that if she lost it now, she'd never get it back, so she forced herself to think. What has Dash said about leadership?... Okay.

"Ideas any-pony? As Dash said, we need to get the balloon clear and keep the thing contained until every-pony else gets there."

Cloudchaser piped up. "Snowflake and I can tow the balloon. We're not the fastest flyers, but he's one of the strongest."

"Yeah!" Snowflake agreed.

"We could play cloud-tag with it, take turns to distract it and keep it changing which way it's going." Milky Way mused.

"That works!" Lightning Dust said. "Dash?"

"If we go in at different heights, that should mix it up even more. Those twister arms can't change height or direction too fast."

Lightning Dust nodded. "We'll take the middle as we'll be doing the most dodging."

Wildflower looked at Milky Way. "Up high?"

He nodded and Thunderlane said, "I guess that leaves us the low ponies on the totem pole, eh Raindrops?"

They started to see the trouble ahead, the balloon was floating towards them, towed by Fluttershy and aided by the glow of Twilight's and Rarity's horns. Pinkie Pie was in the crow's nest on top of the balloon, and was clearly trying to drive it off with blasts from Pinkie's party canon while Applejack was managing Fluttershy's rope.

Dash knew all of them were awake, though they'd been staying low profile this loop to relax. So they could have handled this thing like small change, but they'd clearly decided to leave it to Dash and her team. Dash worried for a moment, could her fellow pegasi handle it? Then she looked around at her flight group, and Lightning Dust... or rather her group, full stop. They were scared, and unlike Rainbow Dash they had reason to be, but they were also determined and ready to face that thing, take the risk and she couldn't take that away from them.

Snowflake and Cloudchaser peeled off the formation as they passed, flying round to come up either side of Fluttershy. They quickly got their own ropes courtesy of Applejack, and the balloon finally started to pull away.

The other three wing-pairs dove in towards the cloud monster itself , splitting off to take their assigned heights. As they'd agreed on the way in Lightning Dust and Dash went first, pulling down their goggles as they went into attack formation.

Dash swept in close and zipped back and forth. "Hey you, Puff the magic cloud! Your momma was a sub-tropical convection cell! I've seen scarier clouds when I breath out on a cold morning! C'mon you Nimrod Nimbus, come and get me!"

While it clearly didn't understand the insults, the cloud monster was clearly tracking her with its 'eyes'. It roared like a storm wind blowing through the trees and a vast funnel arm swung towards her as it veered away from following the balloon to chase her. She could have out ranged it easily, but that wasn't the idea. Instead she actually flew in closer to make sure its attention focussed on her. The cloud's tornado 'arms' flailed after her.

"Dash, let's tie it up!" Lightning Dust called as she dived in. "Yo, fog-face! You couldn't hit the ground with a rain storm! Yeah Lightning Lips, I'm talking about you! C'mon you third-rate thunderhead, start something!"

The cloud reached after her and she let the edge of one tornado tug at her tail, but she broke free and drew it after her as Dash did the same for the other arm. Without actually saying anything, they flew in and around each other, and as they did the two tornadoes became intertwined, immobilising them.

They swooped out of the tangle as a pair, whooping and laughing. "Oh yeah, we have wings, we have the talent... whoa!"

Dash's bad-ass boast was interrupted as she bucked Lightning Dust away from her, a fraction of a second before a bolt of lightning about half the width and twice the length of the Canterlot Express passed through the airspace they'd just occupied, and just barely failed to turn them both into Southern Fried pegasus nuggets.

"I didn't know it could do that!" she exclaimed. "We can't let the others get hit! They'll have to back off."

Lightning Dust shook her head, as they veered out of the way of another bolt that tracked after them. "No! They'll be harder to hit, but easier to track. They need to stay in tight so it can't focus!"

Dash thought for a split second. "Good call!"

She amped up her voice using weather magic to modulate the air and yelled, "Keep close and keep dodging! Don't let it home in on you!"

As they weaved around clouds in extreme evasion manoeuvres, they saw its arms were untangling. Dash growled. She was this close to opening a storm of alicorn style flank-whooping on the thing, but that would wreck all the work she'd done, and there was a better way. "Uh oh! If they try and bust that cloud the regular way, ponies are going to get hurt!"

"So you have an irregular way?"

"What do you say to a double Sonic Rainboom delivered right to the heart of that thing from above?"

"Most people would say you've swallowed too much cloud and it's fogging your brain..." Lightning Dust exclaimed then gave a little growl. "... but I guess they were right. I am just as nuts as you. Of course you haven't taught me how to do a Sonic Rainboom. "

"No time like the present! Come on!" Dash suddenly went into a vertical ascent, calling out to the others as they flew past, "Just keep it off balance for a few more seconds, then scatter when we hit it!"

"We'll need some altitude!" Dash pushed some real power into her wings, giving them a slight rainbow aura, and shot upwards as if someone had just repealed the law of gravity. Lightning Dust panted to keep up with her, and just barely managed it. They came to a stop far above the scene of the battle, with the cloud a tiny puffy shape below, harried by the specks of circling pegasi.

"Whoa! You can go that fast in an ascent?" Lightning Dust gasped for air until she felt Dash's weather magic wash over her and the air thicken around her.

"Wait until you see what's next!" Dash grinned. "Besides you matched me."

She held out her fore-hooves. Place yours against mine, then we dive and stay together. Focus any weather magic you can spare from speeding up to forming a shield in front of you. You should be able to feel what I'm doing, just match it, okay?"

Lightning Dust gave a curt nod, and touched fore-hooves to Dash's. "Let's do this!"

They inverted in mid-air, still in contact, and started to dive, matching wing-beats. They quickly went past their ascent speed and kept accelerating at a rate even Lightning Dusts hadn't thought she could manage. Any pegasus worth their pinion feathers had a go at seeing how fast they could go in a power-dive at least once in their lives, but this was pushing limits she hadn't even realised she had. On top of that, she was trying to balance the power she put into accelerating with the weather magic she was feeding into the shock wave that started to form in front of them.

Her hooves started to peel away from Dash's as she started to exhaust herself, and she cried, "I can't hold it..."

"You can!" Dash called back, "I know you can do this, and every-pony's We're relying on you! Remember, the bigger the challenge... "

Lightning gritted her teeth. "... the better we like it!"

The Wonderbolt mantra flashed through her mind, along with the last time she'd heard it. They were getting near the cloud now, and she could see the other ponies clearly, still playing a deadly game of tag to hold it in place. Other moments flashed through her thoughts, leading them through the obstacle course, the way they'd accepted her once she'd stopped being a jerk. Most of all throughout it was Dash, defending her, supporting her, believing in her; even when she'd done nothing to warrant it...

It reached something deep inside her, and she felt it explode outwards, giving her new energy. Dash had put her faith in Lightning Dust, and she was _not_ going to let her friend down. She came back into synch with Dash, and threw that power into her wings and the shockwave, which transformaed into a sharp cone that crackled with energy.

"Yes!" Dash exulted. "On my mark, we buck it over..."

The cadet pegasi dodging around the increasingly frantic cloud monster saw a brilliant column in the sky, equal parts rainbow and lightning as it speared down into the crown of the monster with a glowing arrowhead at its tip. The cloud creature froze for a fraction of a second, and the triangular slits of its eyes suddenly turned into almost comical circles. The four of them took the chance to dive outwards and set their wings to ride the wave they knew was coming.

The rainbow halo, shot with lightning and gold, exploded outwards just above the thing's mouth, slicing it in two and disrupting the magical forces that held it together. It scattered the pegasi like windblown leaves, but they'd been ready for it, and it didn't hurt them. They could only hope the same was true for the two pegasi who'd been at the centre of it.

Thunderlane and Raindrops were carried in the direction of the Academy, and thus were the first ones to meet up with the relief force. Twilight's balloon was there, surrounded by wings of Wonderbolts, flying in staggered echelons. They had to have assembled every-pony in the place, cadets and instructors, and some of the pegasi at the back were harnessed in teams, towing lightning and storm projectors from the obstacle course.

They headed for the apex of the lead chevron, where Spitfire, still in her mess dress uniform had point. They were quickly joined by Snowflake and Cloudchaser, who'd been flying escort to the balloon. Spitfire saw them immediately. She waved off the salute they gave.

"Cadet, report! Was that a Sonic Rainboom?"

Thunderlane was the pony she addressed. "Yea ma'am! Rainbow dash and Lightning Dust hit the thing together and destroyed it."

Spitfire nodded. "I saw the light trail and the explosion from here. What about them, and your other wing pair?"

"Wildflower and Milky Way rode the wave the way we did, but they were around to the side. They must be half way to Ponyville by now. As for Dash and Dust... I couldn't see what happened, no-pony could."

Spitfire looked past him to where the cloud monster had disintegrated, and for the first time, he realised he could see worry in her eyes. He understood why, the energies at the heart of that cloud would have been enough to tear almost any pegasus to shreds if they placed a wing wrong. "Let's hope they're as capable as they seem to think they are..."

Cloudchaser piped up. "They're tough! They'll be okay..."

her eyes suddenly widened as she suddenly realised how familiar she was being. "...Ma'am! Sorry, ma'am!"

Spitfire just shook her head. "It's okay cadet, I can understand you're a little out of it. You did good, all of you. But for now, we have other things to worry about. We need to set up search parties..."

"No we don't!" A new voice had spoken. Pinkie Pie arrived, held up by a bunch of party balloons tied around her middle and propelling herself by spinning her candy-floss tail like a propeller. She pointed in the direction of the cloud, where two dots had just become visible. They flew towards the massed pegasi, and resolved themselves into Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash.

Both of them were flying relatively slowly, and both of them looked as if they'd been dragged through a thunderstorm backwards (which they had, pretty much) but both of them were flying straight and level, and both had big, if tired grins on their faces. They flew up to Spitfire as the other cadets parted for them, and Lightning Dust snapped off a salute.

"Cadets Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash reporting completion of cloud clearing duty, ma'am!"

Snowflake started what happened next, clapping his fore-hooves together slowly and deliberately. The other cadets took up the clapping, and then some of the other pegasi. The clapping swelled, speeding up as ponies started to cheer, while Pinkie puttered over and glomped Dash like a rainbow flavoured toothpaste tube.

Spitfire spoke over the applause. "I'll debrief the two of you in my office afterwards, but first, I think both of you need to rest. Let's get you back to the Academy... all of you."

She detailed a party of fresh pegasi to go find Wildflower and Milky Way, then formed up the remainder of the Academy to escort the cadets and Twilight's balloon back to the airfield.

* * *

27.9 (misterq, 26.10 continued)

* * *

It was early morning at Hogwarts where a young pink bushy-headed girl sat on her bed, playfully swinging her legs. It was a very rare moment where Pinkie Pie was feeling a bit introspective. She had spent a few loops, ones that had her start out back at her parents' rock farm, trying to act like a normal pony. One that was cheerful and liked birthdays, but didn't celebrate at every opportunity. One that didn't bounce around everywhere or eat vast amounts of sugar. One that knew about commonly accepted social graces and personal space, unlike someone who had grown up with her only friends being inanimate objects.

She had even pranked her looping friends in one iteration by acting like a completely normal pony for a whole month.

But in the end, she decided that she liked being Pinkie. She got a warm ticklish feeling whenever the others said 'It's just Pinkie being Pinkie'. She liked throwing parties and eating horrifying amounts of sugary sweets and pretending not to know what was socially acceptable and what wasn't. Whenever she did something that was inexplicably impossible, she brought a bit of wonder and joy into her friends' lives.

It wasn't as easy doing that as when she was a chaos goddess. That loop left a lasting impression on her magic, but that seemed to be it. After all, it wasn't like she now had a galaxy full of super happy space elves worshiping her.

'Yet,' giggled a little voice inside of her.

'No,' Pinkie laughed at her own subconscious, 'and no going magical alicorn demi-goddess on this world, because that will end all the fun. And I'm having way too much of it for it to end so soon.'

Pinkie Pie bounced out of her bed and grabbed her wand, "Letters to send, potions ingredients to procure, cakes to bake with the castle house elves, Pinkie Promise Breakers to... talk to. This day is going to be so FUN!"

* * *

Twilight tentatively opened another of her overseas friend's letters and read out loud to the remainder of her gathered friends, _"Hi everyone! It's a letter from me, Pinkie Pie, again! How are you all doing? I'm am fantasti-mazing as always. So many things happened I don't know where to start, so I'll just guess."_

_"After our old defence teacher left in such a hurry, a new one was hired. His name is Gilderoy Lockhart, and I had him Pinkie Promise that he would be a good teacher unlike the last one. He promptly broke it in his first class when he explained how he stole the memories of the people who actually did all the heroic stuff he said he did himself; and that he wasn't even that good at defence spells or care about teaching well; or that that shade of blonde was not his natural hair colour!"_

"How scandalous," Rairty exclaimed, causing her friends to give her a brief glance before going back to the letter.

_"Also in unrelated news, it's possible to mix a magical truth serum with a secret babbling potion and turn them both into an aerosol mist. Who knew? Anyways, I was about to talk to him to let him know how disappointed I was that he broke a Pinkie Promise, but he somehow got a bit of (okay, a lot of) fear potion and spider pheromones all over him, and ran off screaming into the super spooky forbidden forest. They looked for him for a while, but no sign yet. I think as long as he knows some defence spells, he should be fine."_

Rainbow Dash slowly turned towards Applejack and said, "You got off easy, AJ. That one time you almost broke a Pinkie Promise could have ended with you as bride of the spider people."

Applejack just shuddered and said, "Just keep reading, Twilight."

Twilight complied, _"Our history professor was a boring ghost, but I laughed at him and, you guessed it, I got detention. Then, next class, I did an exorcism ritual I made up and the other professors had to come and close the howling portal to the screaming netherworld that somehow opened up right as I was finishing up. I knew I should have had an old priest and a young priest, but I thought that ordaining my friends, Harry and Neville, should have worked fine; at least unless either of them had some previous unknown exposure to death magic or death magic related artifacts and accessories. But what was the chances of that?"_

_"In the end, Binns, our old history ghost is now history. Get it? Because he was sucked into a horrible vortex. To replace him, the ministry of magic sent this large woman who likes kittens and pink sweaters so very much. We're going to be such good friends, I just know it!"_

_"My detention wasn't so bad. I had to clean a school bathroom. I guess I cleaned it too well, because one moment I was rubbing this neat little snake carving; and the other moment, I was sliding down a super duper fun slide. Then I met my new friend, who I decided to call 'Big Blinky', or BB for short. Some would say that Big Blinky is a giant snake, but that's not true at all. BB is a basilisk and as such has a hinged jaw and eyelids, so that means BB is a legless lizard. With eye beams. I spent the rest of the night riding around the spooky forest on BB's back, hunting spiders while yelling out, 'Maud'dib!' Best detention ever!"_

_"In conclusion, the end. Just kidding! I'm sure more fun stuff is coming. As always, I'll let you know when a good time to visit. With lots of parties, Pinkie Pie."_

* * *

_27.10 (masterweaver)_

* * *

"Jack. Sparrow."

The stallion turned around. "Twilight Spoirkle! Fancy seeing you on this fancy ship. Fancy, innit?"

The unicorn raised an eyebrow. "Yes. It's very fancy."

"Flying ships, I said. Flying ships. You know, that's very clever, I'm going to have to figure out this one."

"Do you know who this ship belongs to?" Twilight continued calmly.

"Hold up. Let me ask the crew. NAVIGATOR!"

A blonde pegasus saluted, swaying slightly. "Yes Captain?"

"Who does this ship belong to?"

"That'd be you, captain!"

Jack smiled, turning back to Twilight. "So, apparently, this is my ship."

The bearer of magic sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Cloudkicker, why are you helping him steal this ship?"

"Steal?" The violet pegasus fluttered over. "This. This isn't stealing. This ship is his, fair and square."

"THIS IS PRINCE BLUEBLOOD'S PERSONAL YACHT!"

"Was," Jack said calmly. "Right up till he gave me the deed, see, I've got a contract." He rustled at his pockets, muttering something about fingers before he finally pulled out a scroll. "Signature, legal mumbo jumbo, aaaaand... ah, seal of office. Which is his tattoo thing."

"Cutie mark," Cloudkicker corrected.

"That's what I said."

Twilight groaned. "I'd accuse you of casting some sort of spell if I could figure any of this out-"

"You hear that Berry? You're a witch!"

Berry Punch stumbled up from below deck. "Really? Want some of my brew?"

"Is it rum?"

"MOSTLY rum!"

"Bring it on up witch!"

The purple mare cackled as she descended again.

"We totally need to have a threesome with her," Cloudkicker commented.

"I agree. Twilight, care to join us?"

The unicorn let out a tortured groan. "Why are you being so... so childish?!"

Jack tilted his head. "I take it, that's a no."

"HOW DID THIS EVEN HAPPEN?!"

The pirate shrugged. "Funny story, really..."

* * *

Blueblood moaned as the light assaulted his eyes. "Ugh. That is the last time I ever drink... any. Any peasant drink. What was it called, Room or something?" He blinked and shook his head. "I should have it outlawed..."

He blinked again.

He blinked a third time.

He looked around his room.

His bare, unadorned, not-even-having-any-furniture room.

There was a frantic scramble to find his bed, before he realized it was out on the lawn... alongside every other item in his house... and a number of auctioneers.

* * *

"And that is why I am the grandmaster of liar's dice."

Twilight stared.

She couldn't figure out whether Jack was joking.

* * *

AN:

27.1 That episode really did cover most of the bases, as far as mystery plots go.  
27.2 How to confuse villains #4: Give them what they want, clearly out of pity.  
27.3 I - am that is.  
27.4 A long anticipated meeting.  
27.5 Probably as obscure as I've got in a while. This is a reference to the first part of episode one of classic British comedy series "the Goodies".  
27.6 ...it just fit so well. (Rosette is from my short fic "An Oath".)  
27.7 Dawg Fortress.  
27.8 I don't know what the hell that thing is either.  
27.9 I actually feel sorry for Umbridge. I did not know that was possible.  
27.10 Yo ho ho hem, a pirate's life for them.


	28. Chapter 28

28.1

"Sis?" Big Mac said, worried. She'd been like this – very tired – since the reunion and that thing with the Nightmare Moon or whatever, and he couldn't see a reason for it.

"Yeah, yeah, Mac," she replied woozily. "Ah got it."

She stamped a hoof on the floor, and the earth rippled out from the impact point.

And every single tree in the orchard dropped all its apples.

Amazed, Mac watched as the ripple spread out, reaching the picket fences marking the boundaries of the Apple orchard, and then back in again carrying the just-dropped fruits.

Humping up into a curler, the earth poured them neatly into boxes.

Still with her eyes half closed, Applejack closed the boxes and stamped them with the Apple family proof mark. "Am ah done?"

"…eeyup," he replied quietly.

"Good." The earth pony mare walked into the barn, and collapsed onto a hay pile before starting to snore.

* * *

"Sorry…" Applejack said, wincing. "Ah know ah was supposed to join th' discussion yesterday about what t' do this loop, but after last loop… y'all know, with th' army of airships and th' police job…"

Twilight nodded sympathetically. "Yes, I know the feeling – I've slept through a loop before after an especially tiring one, though only with somepony else like Dash around to take up the slack… or at least I try to."

The Anchor smiled. "Still, at least you got the harvest done on time."

"…ah did what?"

Twilight held up a photo.

Applejack winced again. "Ah, ponyfeathers. So much fer a quiet loop, after that ah'm gonna get interviewed…"

"What happened, then?" Twilight asked, interested.

"Earthbendin', it's called. Seems it's more instinctual than ah was expectin'."

AJ winked at Twilight's blank look, then laughed as it turned into 'swot mode'. "Easy, there, Twi. Ah'll explain what th' place was like when ah'm good an' ready."

* * *

28.2

Nightmare Moon walked out onto stage. "Well, well. It's been so long since-"

There was a snigger.

"Who did that?" she asked, turning towards where the voice had come from. "Admit it!"

That brought a smattering of giggles.

"Stop it!" she shouted. The giggles died away. "Right. Now. My… _beloved…_ subjects-"

Somepony made a muffled snort sound, as though a hoof was desperately and imperfectly restraining the sound of hilarity.

"Oh, this is ridiculous!" Nightmare Moon fluffed out her feathers and stomped on the floor, producing a roar of laughter. "If you will not take my return seriously, then I am leaving! You're all horrid!"

Silence gradually descended, with only the occasional strained giggle cutting through it.

Nightmare Moon decided to ignore those brief spurts of hilarity, and got started on her speech. Unfortunately, when she got to the bit about the night lasting forever, it was too much to take and every single pony in the hall burst into uncontrollable guffaws.

"Hmph!" she said, turning up her nose and flouncing out, chased by laughter.

It took quite a long time. After all, she was only filly sized, and that meant a lot of steps to get off the stage.

* * *

"How was that?" Nyx asked, reclaiming her glasses and hairband from Twilight backstage.

"I think it went pretty well," Twilight replied. "Maybe if you hadn't had a squeaky voice as well it might have been touch-and-go, but that was the masterpiece."

"Indeed," Luna said. "Actually, would you handle all my public appearances this Loop?"

"_Would_ I?" Nyx repeated, giggling.

* * *

There was a crack of thunder and a flash of lightning, and several ponies flinched back as the chariot came stooping out of the sky.

Then they paused.

"What?" Nyx asked, ostentatiously paying no attention to her pumpkin costume. "Oh, am I not scary enough? Grrr."

Somehow, it seemed like the ponies of Ponyville were not as terrified as they might perhaps have been.

Nyx rolled her eyes, making the costume fluff out. "Oh, sure, it's fine for a pony to dress up as a chicken, but you get the deity of the night coming to her own festival as a pumpkin and suddenly they're 'not in the spirit of the holiday'. Well, hmph."

* * *

"Well, did I miss anything?" Nyx asked, wings whirring frantically as she landed in front of the Elements.

Celestia just gave her a look.

"…wow, the party must have been awesome to demolish half the castle like this! How come you didn't wake me up?" Nyx looked upset. "Is it 'cause I don't look old enough to be allowed alcohol? And that's a stupid rule by the way, I'm totally old enough."

* * *

"I just…" Scootaloo shrugged desperately. "I want Dash to like me, but it seems like I just can't get her to treat me how I want."

"Well…" Nyx frowned, clearly thinking hard. "In my experience, nothing helps you connect with a sister figure like turning evil, becoming corrupted by your own power, confronting your sister, fighting her, losing, being banished to the moon by the Elements of Harmony for a thousand years, shrinking, coming back to Equestria in a hilariously abortive attempt at a coup…" she paused. "I might have forgotten the next bit, but anyway it _does_ work. Could be tricky to arrange, though. Do you have super powers?"

"No," Scootaloo deadpanned.

"Well, we could start with that." Nyx smiled encouragingly. "Maybe we could get Pinkie to make you a gyrocopter, and you could be Gyrocopter Pony, the Pony with a Gyrocopter."

At Scootaloo's look, Nyx shrugged. "I don't exactly have much to go on here, work with me."

* * *

28.3 (Nutjob)

* * *

"...forever!"

Nightmare laughed maniacally as the ponies gathered below her cowered in her presence. It was over. Celestia was defeated, locked within her own accursed sun before the black alicorn halted the infernal orb below Equestria's horizon altogether. Soon, she would be forgotten, and the sun would be nothing more than a old pony's tale. Her subjects would learn to appreciate her night, and she would get the respect and adoration she _**deserved! **_

"Excuse me, Your Majesty?" a voice called out. The kingdom's new monarch looked down at the crowd gathered below. A purple unicorn was smiling back up at her. "Hello! I'm so glad to finally make your acquaintance, Your Majesty. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I'm positively honored to be able to offer my services to the crown." The unicorn bowed respectfully.

Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow in confusion. This... Twilight Sparkle seemed unnaturally calm compared to everypony else in the room, as though she had been expecting her. And what services was she referring to? The alicorn shook her head. It didn't matter, one of her new subjects was already warming up to her. This presented an opportunity. Reward this subject for her loyalty and more would follow. "Rise, Twilight Sparkle. Your new queen is pleased to see that there are ponies such as yourself that are prepared to embrace her gift of eternal night."

The unicorn looked up at her once again, beaming from the praise. Around her, Nightmare Moon could she the crowd glaring at her, and heard the word "traitor" uttered more than once, but the unicorn paid them no heed. "Thank you, Your Majesty. That means a lot." Twilight produced a pocket watch, and glanced at it. "It looks like you arrived not a minute too soon. I think it's best that we get started right away."

"Get started with... what, exactly?" Nightmare Moon asked, cocking her head.

This time, it was Twilight's turn to look confused. "Wait, didn't your sister tell you?"

Nightmare Moon blinked at that. Her sister? Come to think of it…

* * *

_A black alicorn appeared in a brilliant flash of light._

_"__**I… have… returned!**__" she shouted into the air._

_"Luna! There you are." Nightmare Moon to face the voice. Her. Oh course she would be here, but she would not be victorious again. "Oh, I'm so glad to see you again. I have missed you so much, dear sister. Listen, I know you are angry with me, but you should know I scheduled an appointment with-"_

_The white alicorn disappeared when she was struck by a beam of dark blue magic. "__**To the sun with you!**__"_

* * *

"No, she did not mention anything about this at all."

The unicorn sighed and shook her head. "It's just like her to leave me to explain everything. Alright, I'm sorry, you're probably confused. Let me reintroduce myself. I'm Twilight Sparkle, Royal Psychologist."

* * *

"...all those evenings I spent pouring my heart and soul into the sky, making the stars shimmer and sparkle and crafting beautiful constellations, and... and... *sniff* ...and they just slept through it! Every single night!" Nightmare Moon sobbed. Twilight levitated over a box of tissues. The black alicorn pause her story for a moment to dry her eyes and clean her runny nose. "Thank you… *sniff* I just… I just wanted everypony to see what I created. My sister… she always got all the attention. Everypony thanked her for the sun and the light it brought. But nopony ever thanked me for the moon or the stars. I thought if I just kept trying to make it more beautiful, somepony would notice eventually but… but no matter how hard I tried I… they..."

Nightmare Moon broke down into another tearful fit. Inwardly, Twilight was actually quite pleased with her current progress this loop. The hardest part of this plan, getting the Luna's egotistical dark persona to submit herself to therapy, was already out of the way. Sure, while the black alicorn may have _initially_ responded by trying to take her head off with a blast of focused magical energy for having dared suggest that her new queen's mental state was anything short of perfection, spending several lifetimes replacing Celestia during her rule over Equestria had made her quite the diplomat.

Talking her down hadn't been easy, but by playing the scared, helpless unicorn who was only trying to serve her new queen, she had managed to calm Nightmare Moon down enough to stop her destructive rampage. After that, coaxing her into attending the session had been a matter of careful word choices, ego stroking, a few hypothetical scenarios, and a cheerful attitude sprinkled with hints of adoration. Even under the dark influence of the nightmare, Luna, at her core, had still only truly desired some appreciation and attention. After she agreed, Twilight was actually surprised how quickly she opened up. It made her wonder whether or not Celestia had tried this _before_ banishing her sister to the moon for a thousand years. Something to ask about.

Either way, seeing the black alicorn sobbing in the middle of her tree (which she converted into a makeshift office) was something she wished her friends were here to see. Well, her looping ones, anyway. Their non-looping selves, Spike included, were peeking in through a window (she pretended not to notice), but it wasn't quite the same. It would at least it would make for a good story, but things were starting to drag on, so it was time to make a move.

"Luna… May I call you Luna?" She paused to let Nightmare Moon answer. The alicorn hesitated for a bit, but eventually nodded. Twilight smiled, this was a good sign. "I completely understand your desire to have your work validated. To see something you put so much work into completely ignored must have been devastating. You mentioned that your sister received plenty of attention for raising the sun. Do you think it would have hurt as much to have everypony ignore the night if that weren't true?"

Nightmare Moon was slow to answer. "Well it… it still would have hurt but… I… I suppose that seeing Tia getting all that attention might have made it worse…"

Twilight nodded. "Would you say you were envious of the attention she was getting?" she asked, careful not to make it sound like an accusation.

"M-maybe…" she said, but the way she sank into the chaise lounge implied a more definitive answer.

"Did you ever tell her you were feeling neglected back then?"

"She… she knew."

"Are you certain?" Twilight pressed.

"Tia… Celestia knew everything... She... Nothing ever happened in the entire kingdom without her knowing about it… She had to know…" she answered, but her words sounded uncertain.

Twilight shook her head. "Perhaps that she was so busy maintaining a presence in Equestria's politics was the reason she hadn't noticed how you felt? Sometimes a pony can get so wrapped up in their work that they fail to notice how their friends and family are hurting."

Nightmare Moon seemed to consider this, but didn't respond at all. Objective one complete. Now for the other matter… "So then, this plan of yours, to make nighttime eternal, this is another attempt to get more ponies to notice the night sky?"

Nightmare Moon nodded. "Yes. They won't be able to ignore the night anymore if it lasts forever."

"But don't you think that could be counter-productive?" Nightmare Moon looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "What I mean is, ponies might _notice _the night sky, but since it comes at the cost of the day and the sun, it could cause them to resent it instead of admire it like you wanted."

Nightmare Moon huffed. "Then so be it. They ignored me night after night and spent all of their time in the sun. They never cared about me, so why should I care about how they feel?"

Twilight gave a small smile. "You don't mean that."

"You don't know me." she said, turning away.

"No, but I know you care deeply about every one of your subjects. I know you were there fighting Discord alongside your sister," she said. Nightmare Moon's ears perked up, and she turned back towards Twilight.

"You know about that?"

Twilight nodded. "I do."

Nightmare Moon stared at her for a moment, then turned away again. "Yes, I was there. And for a while, the ponies seemed to love me too. But years passed. Decades. Centuries, and I was forgotten. And as their love for me faded, so did mine."

"And yet, when you heard about King Sombra and the way he enslaved the Crystal Empire, you once again threw yourself against a powerful enemy in order to protect them," Twilight added. "If what you say were true, you would have felt no obligation to help them."

Nightmare Moon faced Twilight again with a disbelieving look on her face. "How do you know all this?"

"Because I've been very thorough in researching my homeland's history," she said simply. It was at least partially true, but she felt it was best not to mention the whole truth for the moment. "You had no obligation to save Equestria from Discord. You could have left the ponies, my ancestor's at his mercy and looked for a new land to settle in. But you saw ponies suffering under the rule of a reality-bending tyrant, and you, along with your sister, wanted to protect them. Not so you could rule over them, you did it because you couldn't stand to see them in pain. It was the same for the Crystal Empire, am I right?"

"I… yes…" she admitted. "But we failed. The Crystal Empire is gone."

"Maybe, but you protected Equestria from a potential invasion from King Sombra's slave army. And more importantly, you fought for them. Your subjects, and the crystal ponies. You _did_ care. And while the history books are vague on the exact dates of the events, the fall of the Crystal Empire and your rise as Nightmare Moon were what, a year apart? Two? Certainly not long enough for you to divorce yourself of that protective nature and empathy." Nightmare Moon's gaze met the floor. Twilight took that as a "yes". "And your sister's public presence? I'm willing to bet that one of the reasons that she managed to maintain such an outward image was because you were helping to keep Equestria running smoothly outside the public eye, correct?"

Nightmare Moon was silent for a long while, then she spoke. "It doesn't matter. I've already made my choice," she nearly whispered.

"But it does matter! It matters to _you_."

"Stop…"

"You still care about them. About us, don't you? You never _stopped_ caring."

"I said stop!"

"And that's why it hurt so much. You _adored_ your subjects, and yet they never seemed to return your affections. Even your sister didn't seem to have as much time for you anymore."

"Please! Just stop talking!"

"And that's why you did it, isn't it? The pain just became too much. You couldn't hold it in any longer. So you thought, since loving them was too painful to bear, maybe you could try hating them instead. Scorning them. Replacing your unrequited affections with something less painful."

"_**Be silent!**_" Nightmare Moon boomed, getting to her feet and standing over the unicorn with a brightly glowing horn. She attempted to look as threatening as possible, and to a younger pony she may have. Twilight, however, was not young. She could see that the alicorn's glare lacked a certain heat to it, her eyes were starting to well, and the subtle twitches of her mouth were clear indicators that she was struggling to keep her emotions under control. The floodgates were about to burst.

"It won't work, Princess. You can't simply stop caring about them like that. Somepony like you, who loves her subjects with all her heart, could never bring herself to truly hate them, no matter how they wronged her."

"S-stop…" she said, her voice cracking. "I-if you don't… I'll…"

Twilight shook her head. "No, you won't. Because you care. Because you would never forgive yourself if you did," she spoke softly, and gave a soft smile. "And I care about you, too, Luna. So please, let me help you."

"H-help m-me?" she stammered.

"Yes, help you. Please." She stood up off her chair. "Let me be your friend."

Any hint of aggression melted away right there. Nightmare Moon opened her mouth, but only a small hiccup escaped. She tried to regain her composure, closing her mouth and squeezing her eyes shut to hold back the tears, but it was too late. Her legs buckled under her and she fell to the floor weeping. Twilight slowly moved beside her, and leaned down, gently stroking her back.

"It's okay. Let it all out."

The alicorn kept crying for several minutes, with Twilight by her side to comfort her. As the minutes passed, Twilight noticed that the black mare's coat was disappearing, the corruption seeping down her coat like runny makeup onto the floor. Before long, all that was left of Nightmare Moon was a puddle of black on the floor and armor far too large for Luna's redeemed form.

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry," she whimpered, clinging to Twilight and crying into her chest. "I'm a horrible pony… I.."

"None of that," Twilight commanded, but kept her voice low. "You're a wonderful pony, Luna. Equestria was worse off without you, and we're lucky to have you back."

"Those ponies… they'll never forgive me… Tia will never forgive me…"

Twilight smiled. "Oh yes they will. You haven't done anything that can't be fixed. And once they meet you, the _real_ you, I know they'll warm up to you, too." Twilight turned towards her window. "Right, everypony?"

Realizing they'd been spotted, Twilight's non-looping PFFs and number one assistant ducked beneath the window frame. Twilight rolled her eyes. As if she hadn't already seen them and called them out. "Come on girls. You were all so wonderful to me when I got here this morning. Princess Luna needs that now more than I ever did, you aren't going to deny her friendship over a choice she regrets making, are you? And I _know_ I taught you better than that, Spike. The door's unlocked. Come inside."

Silence once again overtook the library turned psychiatrists office. Luna gave Twilight a worried look, but the unicorn assured her that they'd come. After a few moments passed, but the group finally proved her right. They walked in slowly, and stood in front of the pair, their eyes wandering between Luna, Twilight and each other as they tried to decide what to say.

Twilight decided to help move things along. "Princess Luna, these are my friends. The baby dragon is Spike, my number one assistant. He was raised by your sister until she put him under my care. The five ponies are my friends. I only just met them when I came into Ponyville, but they've been some of the kindest and friendliest souls I've ever met. They can help you win back Ponyville's trust."

Spike stepped up first. "Well, I'm not sure how I can help but, I forgive you. You don't seem like a bad pony to me, and Twilight's right. Your sister helped raise me, and she taught me better than to hold a grudge against somepony that just made a bad choice."

"Ab-so-lutely!" Applejack exclaimed, moving forward and smiling at Luna. "Ah know Ah probably haven't given the night the attention it rightly deserves, but Ah reckon without it, the sun would just shrivel everythin' Ah try tah grow right up. Ah figure ah owe you big for that, so forgivin' yah is just the start of it fer me."

"Yeah, what she said," Rainbow Dash added. "I'm uhh, I'm not too good at these kinds of speeches, but I totally get what it's like to have something awesome you make go unnoticed. I mean, when I was a filly, I did a sonic rainboom, and nopony noticed." She threw her hooves up. "It's a _giant rainbow explosion in the sky!_ How do you _miss_ that!?" She let out a big sigh. "Anyway, yeah, I totally get where you're coming from, so I forgive you, too."

"Indeed, I can only imagine how it would feel if every single one of my works were ignored," Rarity stated as she walked up to Luna and inspected the oversized armor she was wearing. "Although I have to say, your taste in accessories could use some work." She levitated the helmet and armor off of the alicorn. "Stand up, dear? Good, now let's get you out of that tacky footwear. Yes, that's better. Hmm, those ponies don't know what they're missing. Why, with a coat like yours, and a little work, I'm certain you could shine brighter than the sun. Figuratively speaking, of course."

"And I'll throw you a big 'Welcome to Ponyville/Welcome Back to Equestria/Thanks for Not Making Night Last Forever' Party!" Pinkie shouted. To illustrate her point, she pulled a cord that released a bunch of streamers, balloons, confetti and a "Welcome to Ponyville/Welcome Back to Equestria/Thanks for Not Making Night Last Forever!" banner from the ceiling. Everypony stared at her in disbelief.

"But when-" Twilight began to ask, but stopped herself. No matter how many loops she went through she would never get a satisfactory answer to Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie continued. "Don't worry, everypony comes to my parties, and it will be a great chance for everypony to get to know you and have a great time doing it!"

Luna stared at Pinkie for a second, then looked at the one pony in the room who had yet to speak. "And you? Do you forgive me, too?"

The yellow pegasus hid behind her own mane even as she answered. "Um… Yes. I wasn't ever really angry. I was more worried about my animal friends. Some of them don't see very well at night. But um, I'm glad you aren't doing that anymore. Thank you."

Luna looked at each of her seven new friends and, finally, gave them a small, touched smile. "Thank you. Thank you all so much."

Pinkie latched onto her new Princess/friend in a big hug, surprising Luna. Twilight followed next, then Spike, Rarity, and eventually the whole group. With all her new friends embracing her, some fresh tears began to form in the night Princess's eyes. Ones not of sadness, but of joy. Happier than she could remember being for millennia, Luna hugged them back. She finally had everything she ever wanted. Who would have known it would be so easy?

* * *

"I can't believe what you've managed to accomplish today, Twilight."

Princess Celestia and Twilight sat side by side as the Summer Sun Celebration went into full swing. Princess Luna herself was engaging in many of the festivities along with her new friends, as well as several townsfolk that had since taken a liking to her. Currently, that meant going head to head with Pinkie in a cupcake eating contest, with half the town cheering them on.

"It was nothing, really Princess. You sister just needed a friend. I knew I could get to her."

"I have to admit, when you came to me saying you could redeem Luna without the Elements of Harmony I was very confused. You knew so much I thought I had hidden from you so well. I honestly feared for _your _mental state when you began to talk about these… time loops."

Twilight nodded. "But you always give me the benefit of the doubt. And look at the results."

Celestia smiled. "Indeed. If only I had known the answer was so simple."

"Speaking of which, I have you scheduled to join us at our next session on Tuesday."

Celestia blinked and looked down at Twilight. "Wait, _me?_ But-"

Twilight held up a hoof to cut her off. "Now, now, I won't take no for an answer. I'm sensing centuries of bad air between you two, and I intend to see you two through it. The sooner we get this out of the way the better. Procrastination isn't going to help anypony." She said with finality. "I'm going to go and join my friends. Enjoy the festival, Princess!"

With that, Twilight trotted away, leaving a shocked Princess Celestia behind her. Twilight giggled to herself. Sometimes looping could be so much fun.

* * *

28.4 (NutJob)

* * *

**(Youngster Quartet, Part 1)**

"Okay, seriously, what the fluffy kittens is up with this loop?"

Twilight managed to suppress a laugh, barely, to spare her rainbow-hued friend from further humiliation. They were walking through Ponyville in what was quickly becoming a contender for the most bizarre loop Twilight has ever experienced, and considering the weight that statement alone carried with it she could understand her friend's aggravation.

The loop itself seemed fairly standard at first. She awoke in Ponyville alongside Spike, and a quick check revealed that the other Elements were Awake as well. While it was unusual Awakening in Ponyville, she had certainly awoken to some far less welcome sights. Things only started to get weird when the other loopers started showing up.

Twilight recognized many of them, familiar faces from past adventures and old friends she'd been hoping to see again for… Well, to be honest she wasn't sure. Keeping track of time was difficult as a looper. Others were new faces, some eager to become friends, some new, inexperienced loopers, and some were kind of moody jerks, and every single one of them retained their original form. In any case, Ponyville quickly became flooded with them, and eventually Twilight had to inform Mayor Mare that Ponyville had apparently become the temporary home of several… hundred interdimensional travelers, each with a multitude of lifetime experiences with varying degrees of mental stability. All things considered, she took it quite well after Twilight pointed out granting them residency in Ponyville would secure the majority vote in the coming election. At the time, the looping unicorn thought her biggest challenge would be to prevent so many people from so many cultures from tearing each others eyes out.

This was before she discovered the loops second oddity.

"Oh, man," Rainbow moaned, covering her face with her hooves. "I can't believe I said that to him. I'm never going to live this down."

On top of being the single biggest example of a fused loop she had ever seen, it was also an altered loop with some very strange rules. As far as she could tell no one, whether they be pony, human or otherwise, could say or perform any action that might be considered "inappropriate for children". On top of that, some of the items the loopers had brought with them had been physically altered, as well. Weapons turned into toys or candy, for example, or cigarettes into lollipops. At first, Twilight thought that one of the loopers might have been responsible for everyone's uncharacteristic behavior, but after she got word of other parts of Equestria being affected, and several thorough tests of her new neighbors abilities, she concluded that none of them had the resources or power needed to pull off such a feat. At least not without using a massive amount of easily traceable energy, which there was no evidence of.

It took some time, but eventually most of the loopers had found ways to deal with it. Most treated the loop as a vacation, as the universe was forced into a state of perpetual peace, and the Princesses (Thankfully, also Awake) and mayor helped see to it that each of them was well accommodated. Still, there were a fair amount of troublemakers that tried to "overload" the loop's censorship, which usually just resulted in their words and actions being more heavily altered, but that didn't stop them from trying. And when one such looper had started instigating Rainbow Dash, it quickly devolved into what would have been a heated argument between the two, had the universe not decided to make things awkward for them.

"Oh, come on, Rainbow. It wasn't that bad! Some of the other loopers have been thrown into far more embarrassing situations than you," Twilight offered. "Remember when Laharl and Etna accidentally promised to start a circus?"

That got a smile out of the pegasus. Baby steps. "Yeah, that was great. Flonne wouldn't let that one go until they made it happen. Gotta admit, Midboss and Pinkie were great on the trapeze.

Twilight nodded. "I thought Captain Gordon made a great clown, myself. And how about that time Megatron transformed into a Carousel?"

Rainbow Dash let out a chuckle. Almost there. "Okay, yeah. I don't think anyone saw that coming."

"And need I remind you about the nine-tailed fox?" she snickered, pointing a hoof towards the Everfree forest, where the remains of the worlds biggest piñata was visible over the treeline.

This finally seemed to get the pegasus's thoughts off of her earlier humiliation long enough to share a short but refreshing laugh with her unicorn friend. "Okay, okay, yeah. I mean, I guess I don't have it too bad compared to all that," she admitted.

"Exactly," Twilight agreed, smiling. "Besides, I'm sure Wolverine knows you didn't actually mean any of that." Her smile suddenly transformed into a mischievous grin. "Although I have to say I'm sure it would have been quite the wedding."

The pegasus cheeks went from light blue to bright red and she shot Twilight a glare that could melt glaciers. Thankfully, as a countless number of loops had made her considerably more resilient and an oversized block of ice, the unicorn felt comfortable staring back smugly. Still, it was short-lived, as the second Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to retort she was blindsided by an orange blur that sent her crashing several yards through the ground.

For an instance, Twilight worried that someone had actually succeeded in beating the universal censorship, but one look into the newly formed trench and those fears were lifted. She would recognize that black, spiky hair anywhere, and she knew its owner wasn't the type to attack someone out of the blue.

"Oops. Sorry, Rainbow Dash. That was a little rougher than I was going for."

"Ugh, Goku!? What the happy meals is wrong with you? And what are you hugging me for?"

"Oh, that's because..." the saiyan trailed off, his face twisting in confusion. "Actually, I'm not sure. I just felt like I really had to hug you, for some reason."

"What? But that-" she started, confused, before she put the pieces together and her expression morphed into one of irritation. _**"Pinkie Pie!"**_

"Yessssss, Rainbow Dash?" the pink mare responded, poking her head out from the mound of dirt that had been created beside the trench.

"Did you write my name in the Hug Note again!?"

"Mmmmaaayyyyyybe."

For the second time in five minutes, Twilight found herself resisting the urge to laugh. And judging from the snickering she heard coming from behind her, she wasn't the only one. By this point a mass of ponies and visiting loopers had gathered around the crash site. She knew most of them had been drawn by good intentions, rushing over to offer help if someone had been injured, and although tempting as it was to let them stick around and enjoy the show, she felt Rainbow Dash's ego had taken enough of a beating for one day.

"Okay, everyone! Nothing to see here, move along now!" she called out, shooing the onlookers away. The crowd slowly started to disperse, with several ponies and especially loopers trying to sneak a few more glances before Twilight personally forced them away. Once they were free of any unwelcome onlookers, Twilight turned back and climbed into the trench to assist her friends.

"Goku, you mind getting off me now?" Rainbow Dash asked with a hint of irritation in her voice.

"Uh, yeah." Goku sheepishly rose to his feet. After helping Rainbow Dash off the ground, the saiyan scratched the back of his head. "Heheh… Uh, sorry about all that."

Rainbow Dash waved her hoof. "Don't worry about it. It wasn't really your fault anyway. I'm gonna have a talk with-" She was cut off as Goku suddenly scooped the pegasus off the and pulled her against his chest once again. The two stared at each blankly for a moment, before Goku offered Rainbow Dash an apologetic smile, and Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and gritted her teeth in irritation. "_Pinkie Pie._"

"Wud?" the earth pony asked, looking up from her notebook with a pen clenched in her teeth.

"Pinkie, don't you think poor Rainbow Dash has had enough hugs for one day?" Twilight asked.

"That's silly, Twilight! Nopony can _ever_ get enough hugs in one day!" Pinkie replied, causing Twilight to roll her eyes. "Besides, I know what you're _really _asking. And don't worry, I wrote your name in here right after Dashie's!"

"Pinkie!"

"Also, I hope you don't mind but I really wanted to see what would happen if I wrote someone's name more than once."

"You wrote my name in the Note _twice_?"

"Noooooooooooo."

"What? But then…"

Twilight was distracted by the distant sound of rumbling. Suddenly, the meaning of of Pinkie's words became all too clear. "Pinkie… How many times did you write my name in there?"

"Um, I wasn't keeping track. Oh, I know, why don't you ask them?"

Pinkie pointed behind Twilight. The unicorn almost didn't look, as she had a pretty good idea as to who "they" were, considering that Pinkie had pointed in the direction of the rumbling. _I could just teleport away, right now, _she thought. _Maybe to Canterlot, or the Crystal Empire. Or the moon._ All seemed like, at this particular point in time, a much safer place to be. But realistically, she knew it wouldn't help. Once her name was written in the notebook her fate was sealed, and with all the loopers and their means of transportation it wasn't as though she could run, either. She took in a deep breath and turned around.

And saw the entire population of Ponyville running at her as if someone cast the Want-It-Need-It spell on her.

"Oh _fluff me_."

* * *

"...and I promise never to write anyone's name in the Hug Note more than once at one time ever again. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Pinkie finished, going through all the necessary motions.

"Good, thank you Pinkie. Could you go let Spike know I won't be home for a few days?"

"Sure. Sorry again, Twilight."

"That's okay, Pinkie."

Pinkie nodded slowly and left, and Twilight let out a sigh as Nurse Redheart finish adjusting her bed. Now this was something. How many lifetimes has it been since the last time she wore a full body cast? Of all the thousands of horrible loops she could have ended up confined to a hospital bed, this was about the _last_ loop she would have considered this a possibility. Oh well, it wasn't as though she was terribly busy this loop.

"I don't see why you don't just Ascend or cast a bone-mending spell or something," Rainbow Dash stated. "If you're afraid that you'll mess up your magic or something like that, I can do it for you. Just tell me how the spell works, I'll go Ascend and have you back up in a jiffy."

"It's not that, Rainbow, but thank you." Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at this, so Twilight continued. "Right now, crazy as it sounds, Pinkie Pie is the most dangerous threat to Equestria. The Hug Note is one of the few things in this entire loop that's capable of actually hurting someone, and Pinkie was treating it like a toy. In all honesty, I'm just glad that she learned this lesson with me and not someone else."

"Okay, well, she Pinkie promised not to do it again. Do you really need to stick around here now?

"She Pinkie promised not to write anyone's name more than once at one time, but she's started experimenting with the notebook and that's a problem in itself. What if she decides somebody needs a _really_ big hug? You want to find out what it feels like to be hugged by a gundam?" Rainbow Dash answered with a wince. "I thought not. As for my decision to stay here, well, let's face it. Part of Pinkie's charm is that even despite being technically older than the Princesses at this point, she hasn't seemed to grow up one bit. I don't want her thinking that what happened wasn't a big deal just because I can fix it right away. I'm hoping that staying here a couple of days will make her think her actions through a little better in the future."

Rainbow Dash mused that over. "I guess that makes sense. Alright, well if you're sure, anything you need me to grab for you before I head out?"

"Hmmm… actually, now that I think about it, could you stop by the library and grab as many erotic books as you can find? I want to see how the loop affected them. It should be good for a laugh."

"Ha! That's sounds like fun, maybe I'll join you. Alright, I'll be back in a minute. Don't go anywhere!" the pegasus teased as she opened a window and flew out."

"Oh hah, hah!" she called back, knowing full well her friend was already well out of earshot. Still, an amused smile formed on her face. This was surely one of the stranger loops she'd ever experienced, but also easily one of the most peaceful. To be honest, it was nice to be able to just relax with no strings attached. One loop where she could just pretend she was a normal unicorn that didn't have to constantly fight chaotic gods and eldritch abominations. She took notice a small glass of water on a table beside her, and telekinetically raise it to the air.

"Here's to you, you wonderfully bizarre flopping loop."

28.5 (Masterweaver)

* * *

Twilight Sparkle walked down the stairs to the dungeons, shooting Celestia a worried look. "And you're saying this... assassin wanted to talk to me?"

"Well... to be completely accurate, she wanted to speak to Princess Twilight." The alicorn of the sun looked down at her student. "I hardly know of any such pony, but given that you are my student I assumed there could be a level of... confusion regarding your rank."

The unicorn nodded, keeping her thoughts to herself. Celestia wasn't awake this loop, so of course she was unaware of Twilight's more powerful abilities. The fact that this prisoner _was_ implied that she was looping, but being referred to as Princess by any of her friends was quite unusual. Therefore, it wouldn't be out of the question to assume that the assassin was a new looper...

"Did you ever figure out why she attacked you?"

Celestia sighed. "Apparently I'm... some sort of tyrant that enslaves ponies. And I managed to escape from the moon and rewrite history somehow. I think she may be a tad delusional..."

Twilight winced, remembering a rather disturbing loop. If the pony in question had woken up _then,_ there was plenty of reason to distrust Celestia. "So... what exactly is this pony like, anyway?"

"That's the thing," her mentor said sadly. "She's not a pony."

* * *

Macintosh raised an eyebrow, quietly refilling the mug with cider as Twilight gently patted the shoulders of a sobbing, heartbroken Chrysalis.

He didn't exactly have a full understanding of the situation-it wasn't his place to pry-but from what he had gathered, the last loop that the changeling queen had been in had her married to Shining Armor, of all ponies. Shining hadn't been Awake, of course, but Chrysalis had been. In fact, if he was reading this right, that was her _first_ loop, and she had interpreted her memories of the baseline loop as some horrific nightmare.

And then she'd woken up here, once again Queen of the Changeling Swarm and...

"I AM A MOOOOOOOOOOOONSTEEEEEEEEER!" Chrysalis wailed. She heaved forward with another sob, her silky mane spooling around and into the mug. "I don't deserve to live; I don't deserve any, any of this."

"Look, Chrysalis, you're not really that bad." Twilight rubbed her shoulders gently, watching as she took another gulp of alcohol. "As... aggressive as your invasion plan usually is, it's always started by a need to feed your hive. You just... have a few, um... sympathy issues, that's all."

The unicorn shot Macintosh the look of the desperately flailing. He coughed and nodded. "Family is family. Ah can't tell ya how many loops I fought off timberwolves or joined tha army to protect Apple Bloom and AJ. Ya'll were acting in tha best interests of yer kin, Ah can respect that."

Chrysalis sniffed. "You... you really think that?"

"Sure as tha sun." The stallion nodded. "You look after yer own. Ya just need ta learn ta look after others, too."

With a vague nod, the queen of the changelings straightened slightly.

Then she broke down crying again. "But, but, but... Shining. I loved... loved him, and... and it turns out that I, was just playing him-"

"_That_ Shining Armor loved you too," Twilight interjected quickly. "_That_ Shining Armor was somepony that you... What I'm saying is, you didn't hurt him. I was in that loop, Chrysalis, and I saw how deeply you two were..." She sighed. "I'm sorry. I really am. He wasn't awake that loop, so the looping version of him won't... remember. Just... you didn't hurt him, remember that. In that loop, you didn't-"

"Cadance was awake, wasn't she?"

The unicorn snapped her mouth shut.

Chrysalis turned to glower at her. "Wasn't. She."

Twilight, very reluctantly, gave a small nod.

The changeling nodded back. "I'm a monster. I'm a complete... complete monster..." She reached for her mug again.

Macintosh pulled it out of her reach with a snort. "So what? Ya think just cause ya made a few mistakes ya'll can just take the monster label and run with it?"

Chrysalis sighed. "It's not like I have a choice."

"Ya know what Ah saw when Ah started looping?" Macintosh pointed at the unicorn. "This pony right here transformed into a Nightmare. Called herself Eternal Twilight, turned Spike into a massive dragon... Ah was completely terrified. Turned out ta be a one-loop prank she was pulling."

"Aheh heh heh." The mare inched away from Chrysalis's incredulous look. "Looping does kind of make ponies a tad crazy..."

Macintosh rolled her eyes. "It wasn't till a lot later that Twilight even figgered Ah was looping. And that was only cause she noticed a lot of things that weren't happening that shoulda been. Ah'd been so terrified of her that Ah'd tried ta keep mah whole condition secret... and it turned out she was, well, Twilight. Not some evil monster, but just a pony that happened ta have been living tha same period over and over again."

Chrysalis shut her eyes, rubbing at them with a hoof. "What exactly are you trying to say here?"

"Ah'm saying... Look. Even if ya _are_ a monster, you can change. Ah mean, even tha baseline has Nightmare Moon and Discord reforming."

"Because they made friends," the changeling queen grumbled. "Or got shot in the face with the Elements."

"Then make some friends!" Twilight said brightly. "Heck, I'm sure Pinkie will warm up to you quickly. And Fluttershy _ascended_ because of you, so now that you're looping she'd love to chat."

Chrysalis blinked. "What do you mean Fluttershy ascended because of me?"

"Oh, um... long story, but basically you can't turn into an alicorn unless you've become an alicorn in a previous loop, and that kind of requires specific things for each pony, and Fluttershy is the element of Kindness so..."

"See?" Macintosh pressed. "Ya have some friends already. Heck, Twilight busted ya out of jail to drag ya here for a drink." He offered the mug back to her. "That there takes some real nerve."

"Well, technically I claimed she was my cousin who ended up messing with an experimental spell and, um, Celestia agreed to release her to my care." Twilight rubbed the back of her head. "I'm amazed she bought that."

The changeling queen looked at the proffered cider. "...I... I still love Shining. My version, anyway. The one in that loop, I don't know if the looping Shining is different... I'm never going to get to find out, am I?"

Twilight sighed. "No, I... I'm afraid you won't."

Chrysalis nodded slowly. "Are... either of them awake this loop?"

The unicorn took a moment to consider the question. "...Chrysalis... you're not going to be able to maintain a relationship with ponies when they're not awake. It just... doesn't work, there's not a deep connection."

"You didn't answer my question."

"I don't want you to get hurt."

The changeling queen took the mug and sipped it.

"Look... let's just take it slowly, okay?" Twilight smiled gently. "Me and the other elements will deal with Nightmare Moon and Discord and Sombra and all those other things, but other then that this loop is to help you ease in. Alright?"

"...I suppose I have to start somewhere," Chrysalis replied glumly. "I doubt I could ever redeem myself..."

* * *

28.6

"…I'd like to show you something…" Fluttershy said quietly.

Chrysalis cocked her head, trying not to wince as another memory ran through her. She'd have to get used to them sooner or later, it wouldn't be possible to have a conversation if every reminder of what she'd lost threw her off.

Not to mention how much it might confuse the rest of the hive mind.

"What is it?" she asked, pushing her reminiscence aside as best she could.

"Watch."

Fluttershy's eyes closed, and she exhaled deeply and evenly.

There was a moment of timeless fluidity, and then there was a wolf standing there.

Chrysalis jumped, her wings buzzing. "What-"

The wolf's tongue lolled out for a moment, and Chrysalis noticed the laughter in its eyes.

"It's still me," the wolf said in Fluttershy's gentle soprano. "I picked this up somewhere. It's called Wild Shape."

"…huh, it is," the Changeling Queen said slowly. Now she was concentrating, her empathic sense could still detect the sunny warmth of Fluttershy's emotions. "Where'd you learn that?"

"Oerth." The wolf sat back, gesturing with a paw, and Chrysalis landed again before stepping forwards. "It's part of being what's called a druid. I'm more… in tune with nature."

"Neat."

"Actually," Fluttershy looked down, "I was wondering… what are the limits of your shapeshifting?"

"I've never really tested them." Chrysalis shrugged. "As far as I know, I can't do much more than taking on the shape of a pony, though _what_ pony is quite malleable."

She winced again. Even the smallest things seemed to be making her remember her loss. It wasn't even clear _what_ had done it that time…

"Well," there was another fluid moment, and Fluttershy was back to being a pegasus. "I think I know a project for us to work on. We could try and push the limits of what you can pull off, changing shape, I mean. If that's okay with you."

"That does sound like a good idea," Chrysalis nodded. "But why are you helping me?"

"Why not?" Fluttershy replied, genuinely puzzled – Chrysalis could sense the polite confusion like a pure musical note.

"I… I invaded your country! Hundreds of times!"

"No you didn't." Fluttershy reached out a hoof. "_You_ haven't. A not-Looping version of you did. You're not guilty of her crimes."

Chrysalis sighed. "I have to believe that you think that – I can _sense_ that you believe that – but _I_ don't believe it myself."

"That's okay." Fluttershy giggled. "I used to be _terrible_ at that. Okay, shall we do this?"

Chrysalis shook her wings. "Not as though I have a choice, is it…"

"Oh, no, I wouldn't dream of forcing you." Fluttershy backed off. "But you really _would_ enjoy the challenge, I'm sure…"

Then she got a mischievous glint in her eyes. Faint, but one that would startle somepony from the baseline loop. "And I do think that it might let you play a prank or two."

"Pranks?" Chrysalis repeated, feeling vaguely silly in having to ask so many questions.

"Well, I don't do them much myself, but I understand that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie enjoy them, and they're good to let off steam, and they don't hurt anyone, and…"

"Alright, I get the picture." The Changeling Queen held up a hoof, cutting off Fluttershy's long list. "Right, let's get started. How is it that you're changing the shape of the ears?"

"Oh!" Fluttershy rummaged in her mane for a moment, and pulled a biology textbook from her subspace pocket. "Right, here. You see how the attachment of the muscles differs? Aside from that, the main issue is…"

* * *

28.7

Sweetie Belle sat back, kicking the table leg. It wasn't much fun when the other Crusaders weren't Looping, though on comparing notes they'd more or less mutually agreed that whichever one of them _was_ looping should act like a cool big sister type of person. (Based on the reactions of the non-looping others, being around a pony their age who was clearly more self confident and yet who _wasn't_ condescending was actually pretty cool.)

But the important thing was that she was waiting on her sister. Rarity had decided to upgrade their cloaks, and had asked Sweetie to take her next test examples over to their clubhouse… once they were finished with, anyway.

There was a knock at the door.

Sweetie glanced at the clock as she walked over. Five P.M. _Huh, must be taking her longer than she planned… it'll be dinner soon, and if I'm going to go over to 'bloom's house for tea like I was going to then I'll need to leave fairly sharpish._

As she turned the handle, she rattled off the well-memorized message Rarity had taught her to. "Hello, welcome to Carousel Boutique. I'm afraid we're not open right this moment, but we'll take orders outside hours if… possible?"

She trailed off, staring.

"Spike? What are you doing here?"

Spike looked down at Sweetie for a few seconds, then his eyes widened and he swept a bunch of lilies behind his back to hide them. "Oh, uh, Sweetie. Nice to see you."

"Do you have flowers behind your back?"

"No…" Spike said slowly, in the face of evidence.

"Whatever." Sweetie shrugged. "Hey, sis! Your date's here!"

Rarity appeared with a flash of light. "Oh, sorry, I didn't realize the time… wait, my what?"

Sweetie rolled her eyes. "You two are _not_ subtle. I've known for ages."

"You have?" both of them repeated in unison.

"Hey, that was cool," Sweetie said. "Anyway, yeah, it's just _obvious_ by now."

A grin stole across her face. "Wait, did you think you were managing to keep it secret from me?"

"Er…" Spike scratched the back of his head with the hand not holding the flowers. "…yes, actually."

"I wasn't sure what you'd think, Sweetie," Rarity said with a blush. "I know I should have mentioned it, but…"

"You were worried about that?" Sweetie looked Spike up and down. "He's a dragon. That's about as cool as potential brothers in law _get_."

"Fine, then…" Spike brought the flowers out. "Here, Rares. I know you like them."

The bouquet rose out of his hands wrapped in alabaster light. "I do, you're right." Selecting one from the centre of the bunch, Rarity nibbled it delicately and put the rest in a vase for later. "Much healthier than chocolates. Now, where are we going?"

Spike produced a pair of tickets. "Well, it's getting harder to find a new place to go, but… how do you feel about a classical music performance with Trixie doing a light and magic show?"

Rarity blinked. "How did _that_ come about?"

"I am not entirely sure…" Spike shrugged. "Could be that Twilight sent Trixie off to that classicist-"

"Octavia," Rarity supplied.

"Yes, that's right. Twilight sent Trixie off to Octavia and her friend Vinyl after she turned up here. In any case, the programme says they're doing Beethoofen, so that should be nice."

"Yes, that sounds fine." Rarity paused. "I know it's probably not as low profile as it could be, but… I'd actually like to fly there."

"Really?" At her nod, Spike tapped his chin. "Fair enough, then. Pegasus or alicorn?"

"Pegasus." Rarity matched deed to word, flashing through ascension and then down the other side with wings instead of her horn. "I do still feel nervous flying alone, I don't think that'll ever go away entirely, but… not with you."

Sweetie ostentatiously turned her back as the others shared a long look.

"Hey," she said, after a minute or so, "should I just head off to Applebloom's, then?"

"Sure," Rarity replied, distractedly. "You've got your key?"

"Yep."

The unicorn filly got out of there in case they started kissing.

* * *

AN:

28.1: This is just after AJ's Loop in the ATLA universe. Somehow, the ability to kick earth projectiles the size of houses agreed with her.  
28.3: Therapy is useful.  
28.4: Another word for youngster is "kid". And a quartet means there's four of them.  
28.5: I've been wondering for a while precisely how to bring her in.  
28.6: Flutterwolf is fuzzy.  
28.7: I've seen headcanons where Sweetie is an enthusiastic Sparity shipper. Why not.


	29. Chapter 29

29.1 (TiaC)

* * *

"So, Dash, now that we've dealt with everything important for the foreseeable future, what are you going to be doing next? I don't spend much time on Earth as a pony myself, so I thought I'd try travelling to the Amazon." asked Twilight.

"I'm gonna practice my weather handling. I'm good, but I could be better and this is just the loop to get there."

"Dash! 'Ten seconds flat!' now describes you dissipating a hurricane. Any storm that could challenge you would devastate the planet! Please tell me you don't plan to conjure up super-storms to practice. I don't want to have to clean up after you!"

"Chill Twi, I got this. It won't be a problem."

"I'll trust you Rainbow, but I will be very upset if you end up hurting someone."

* * *

"You did what!"

"Told you I could get some practice here. Beautiful, isn't it? Definitely one for the scrapbook."

The two ponies looked down at the headline. **Great Red Spot Vanishes! Astronomers Baffled!**

"How did you even… It's larger than Earth!"

"_Was_ larger than Earth."

* * *

29.2

"Right, that looks about done," Trixie said, double-checking the calculations. "Right there."

"Cool," Gilda said, bouncing a ball off the wall. "So this'll work?"

"…probably." Trixie shrugged. "Not as though Trixie can test it ahead of time, is it?"

"Fair point." Flaring her wings, the griffin slapped the ball off to one side and pinged it with her tail. "So, when do we start?"

"Tomorrow morning." Trixie reached into nowhere, and pulled out a mini-barrel of beer. "One each for luck?"

"Sure." Gilda got the glasses out, and Trixie cracked the top to pour it.

"I don't remember seeing these before…" Gilda mused.

"Oh, right." Trixie shrugged. "Applejack introduces them sometimes. They're based off beer _cans_, which humans often use – but we just don't have the aluminium extraction capacity to manage them easily, and we ponies prefer wood anyway."

"Huh. Cool."

"Yes, it is, isn't it?" Trixie grinned. "Trixie cooled them down before putting them in her pocket, and put them in stasis. Cold beer on tap!"

"…no, I meant the concept."

Trixie shrugged.

* * *

Queen Chrysalis smiled, her triumph at hand. Celestia was defeated, the Elements lay before her in various states of abject defeat… it was good to be the queen.

"Well, so much for the mighty land of Equestria-" she paused, and frowned. "Who is that?"

Everypony and every… ling, looked.

There was a griffin standing against one wall, trying without much success to whistle nonchalantly.

"What are you doing here?"

"Playing." With that one word answer, the Griffin picked up a dice and threw it. "All right, six! Perfect!"

Stepping back, she revealed a large crank on the wall, and turned it.

With a clunk, something came shooting out of the wall. It looked like…

A stop sign.

It hit a bucket on a stick which was hanging from one of the rafters. That in turn fell over, releasing a large metal ball, which went rolling down the steps outside in a long series of rumble-_thuds_.

Something went _ping._

Part of the palace plumbing collapsed, and a bathtub erupted through the roof in a shower of plaster. Through it fell a marble, which hit the firing catch of a guard's crossbow, and that sent the bolt bouncing off three walls to cut through a rope.

Every eye had been following this increasingly bizarre series of events, Chrysalis among them, and it took her a moment too long to realize that the rope was connected to a _very_ large cage.

"Mousetrap!" Gilda shouted. "Brilliant!"

"…I feel terribly stupid…" Chrysalis muttered. Celestia made a noise of commiseration.

Trixie walked into the hall from a side door. "Okay, you win. Want another go?"

"Sure." Gilda looked around. "Might need to find a different castle, though…"

"There's a nice one in Trottingham." With a blue flash, both of them vanished.

The bedraggled Princess Cadence looked at where the duo had been. "Wait, isn't that the castle you gave Prince Blueblood?"

* * *

29.3

Twilight looked back and forth across the group.

"Right. How on Equestria are we going to sort this one out?"

"Rotating evilness again?" Rarity suggested. "I know I'd like to see what we've all come up with since…"

"True, true." Twilight set up an easel, and took out cutie-mark markers. "Okay, there's a total of…" she looked across the rest of the alicorns, counting under her breath. "I make it twelve, since Nyx and Trixie have joined us since the last time."

"Well, thirteen actually…" Dash put in. "Spike's on the way here, he turned up the other side of the world. He'll take a few days to get here."

"Huh." Twilight shrugged. "Who knows. Anyway, who goes evil first?"

Nyx screwed up her face, her horn glowed, and with a _bang_ she was eight feet tall and clad in spiky armour. **"Me please!"**

"…that's very impressive," Luna said, tilting her head. "How do you do the reverb?"

**"This isn't really armour," **Nyx said helpfully. **"It's my stereo from my subspace pocket. I just put an illusion on it. The volume knob's the fourth spiky bit down on the left, and the bass is the one below it."**

"Anyone else want to go first?" Twilight checked. "No? Good, looks like you get the slot then. Just one question, what's your villain name?"

**"Oh, that's right, isn't it, Nightmare Moon's kind of redundant…"** The newly nominated villain trailed off. **"What about Dark Side?"**

"Could work," Applejack allowed.

"Yes, it sounds good," Rarity added.

The general murmur of agreement continued for a moment, then died away.

"Well, that's settled, then." Twilight nodded to her. "Okay, here goes."

They all dove for cover.

**"Muahahaha!" **the newly designated Dark Side laughed. **"I will… er… hang on, time out, I forgot to have an evil plan."**

Trixie pulled off a sheet which had been disguising her as a rock. "I'll help. I need some ideas myself… do you have a position open for a minion?"

Nyx rubbed a hoof against her chin, pondering. **"Do you have experience in evil?"**

"I did once take over a town by using an evil amulet to gain dark powers?" Trixie volunteered helpfully.

**"Hmmm…"**

"And I've got an evil plan for you to do."

**"Welcome to Team Evil!"** Nyx spread her wings welcomingly. **"We have dental."**

"Really?" Trixie looked interested.

**"It's the fangs…"** Nyx trotted forward. **"What was this evil plan you were suggesting?"**

"Well-" Trixie began.

There was a terrible screeching sound, and every alicorn clapped their hooves over their ears.

**"Oh, oopsie! Sorry, I'm **having a bit of feedback…" Nyx shrugged, her spiky armour making popping noises. "I guess I broke it."

Trixie nodded sympathetically. "I once had a bad sound system. It went _really_ wrong."

"How wrong?" Nyx asked, shrugging the repurposed stereo off and wrinkling her nose at the smell of frying insulation.

"It played me really squeaky. I had to play it off as a comedy thing…"

"Shouldn't you have an evil plan by now?" Dash heckled.

Nyx stiffened. "I think I just worked out my evil plan."

"What's that, then, my lady?" Trixie said, turning to stand next to her.

"Ooh, I like that…" Nyx shook her head. "Anyway, the plan is, smother Equestria in stage effects. The stage mist will last forever!"

Lightning crashed.

"You really are _very_ good at that, by the way," she added. "I can see this is going to work out well."

"Ye~es," Trixie drew out the word, "but it does mean I have to come up with something for myself to do. Cover the sky in fireworks?"

* * *

29.4 (Masterweaver)

It wasn't words.

Ponies wouldn't normally be able to understand, but... it wasn't words, exactly. Or images. Those cropped up sometimes, yes, when necessary. At its fundament, though, the Hive was raw self meeting raw self, communication on a basic level. All the changelings connected to it, and many that had been enveloped by it at their deaths, shifted and tumbled and understood each other in a vast ocean that somehow, itself, had gained an ancient, indecipherable intelligence.

Chrysalis sighed as the hive mind swirled around her. There weren't words, just... worry. Concern. They wanted to know if she was okay. They wanted to know why she had, very abruptly, cut herself off almost completely and charged right toward the heart of ponykind. They wanted to know what had happened, whether they could help.

She'd ignored it for two weeks. The concern had gotten stronger.

Finally, she had politely excused herself back to the swarm's abode-Twilight had mentioned she spent a loop as the Changeling Queen so she understood the pressures of the Hive-and simply sat in her chambers. Then she let her memories flow.

There was... some confusion. Some. But it faded quickly.

There weren't words, but if there were the hive would be saying that she should have told them sooner so that they could comfort her.

The drones approached gently, nuzzling at her as she once more sobbed...

* * *

"Hey there Chrysalis, Fluttershy wanted to know if... you..."

Twilight stared.

In the centre of the room was Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings... and Shining Armor.

And Shining Armor.

Aaaaaand Shining Armor.

And, oh look, Shining Armor.

And, yet again, Shining Armor

And, of course, Shining Armor.

...and Shining Armor.

Shining Armor was there as well.

Twilight recognized her brother amongst the crowd.

The captain of the guard looked back at her.

A white unicorn with a blue mane had frozen at her entrance.

Cadance's beau coughed, awkwardly.

Chrysalis held up a hoof. "I swear, this wasn't my idea."

Twilight nodded, slowly.

"...Look, the hive mind was worried and I let them know what was going on and one thing led to another-"

"I see."

"It's not like we did anything serious!" the changeling queen reassured her. "We just cuddled!"

"I understand."

Chrysalis would have been sweating bullets if changelings had sweat glands. "Come on, after what I've been through I think I deserve a coping mechanism that doesn't involve alcohol!"

The unicorn shrugged. "You may have a point."

"I'm sorry, okay? I just... I was weak, and I'm sorry, and-"

A purple hoof cut her off. Twilight was giving her a sympathetic look. "Hey. I know how it feels to lose somepony you love to the loops. I've been awake for, oh, who knows how long now. I get it, you messed up, and... well, I'm a little bit annoyed that this happened and I'm going to keep it for blackmail but really, it's not nearly as bad as it could have been."

Chrysalis drooped. "I don't know how you can possibly forgive me for this."

"You need to have a chat with Nyx the next time you're both Awake."

"Huh?"

The unicorn giggled. "Nope, not spoiling the surprise. Seriously though... Trust me. You're in the clear for now, okay? We can keep this our little secret for now."

Chrysalis took a moment to compose herself. "I... thank you, Twilight Sparkle. I hope to prove your trust is not misplaced."

"I'm sure that you'll succeed. By the way, you ever do this again and I will let Pinkie _have her way with you._"

The changeling queen gulped. "Understood." The sheer storm of emotions coming from that particular pony had nearly convinced her the world was ending.

* * *

29.5

"Okay, that looks good…" Fluttershy whispered, looking the latest attempt over closely. "Can you swivel them?"

Chrysalis crossed her eyes, and the small cat ears which were replacing her normal ones obediently moved first left, then right.

"Good." Fluttershy nodded. "Looks like you got the muscles down properly. Now, er… I had an idea for a prank…"

The Changeling Queen looked at Fluttershy. "Let's hear it, then."

"Well, er…"

* * *

"Be on watch," Luna reminded her sister. "We have heard that there is an evil abroad in the land."

"I am, Luna," Celestia assured her. "I am ready for anything. Nothing will interfere with this wedding."

Luna swung her telescope groundwards. "Who might that be?"

Celestia stepped up to the railing. "I… don't know."

* * *

"Ohayo!" came a bright, cheerful voice.

Cadence looked over. "Who are you?"

"Oh, gomennasai." The pony she was addressing looked terribly downcast, and her ears flattened against her head.

_Wait, they did what?_ Cadence looked closer.

The pegasus in question had ears that were distinctly… feline.

"Oh!" As Cadence looked, the ears perked up again. "Oh, ah… can I have your autograph, Cadence-chan?"

The princess of love blanked. "Pardon?"

That didn't seem to dissuade the strange pegasus, who thrust a notebook and quill into her hooves. "Please?"

Numbly, Cadence scribbled down her signature and offered it back to the black-coated pegasus, whose face lit up.

"Ariagato!" The… cat-pony shot off, practically bouncing along the corridor.

Cadence turned to Twilight, who was stuffing a hoof into her mouth to avoid laughing. "What just happened, Twilight?"

Slowly and carefully, Twilight took a deep breath. When she was sure of being able to speak without giggling, she began.

"I think that was probably a Neighponese fangirl," Twilight explained. "You can tell by the cat ears."

From down the corridor came the sound of a fairly successful glomp, and some shouting from Rainbow Dash.

"I'll go sort that out," Twilight excused herself.

She supposed that, on balance, it was probably a good sign if Chrysalis was able to do this kind of thing.

* * *

29.6 (Anowack)

* * *

Twilight Sparkle had a list.

Actually, she had _lots_ of lists, but somewhere between The Official Summer Sun Celebration Overseer's Checklist (version three, from a loop where Celestia had complicated the usual scenario with a truly inordinate fondness for carrots, heavy metal music, thunderstorms, and clashing color combinations) and The Official List of Things Looping Pinkie Pie Is Not Allowed To Do Volume XXIV, was a list of experiments to run, experiences to seek out, and pranks to play when the loops allowed. Twilight being Twilight, this list was neatly sorted and cross-indexed by the prerequisite fellow Loopers and loop conditions.

So, when Twilight found herself in a baseline loop with a start point prior to the Sonic Rainboom with Rainbow Dash Awake, she was quickly able to remind herself of what she wanted to try.

Twilight Sparkle wanted to earn a cutie mark. Specifically, she wanted a different cutie mark. She'd attempted this before, but time and time again had only received her own starbust mark. (She had looped into alternate selves with different marks a few times, but that didn't count.)This time, though, Twilight had a special _sub_list of steps to prevent many of the pitfalls she had encountered in past experiments.

Step One, asking Rainbow Dash to not do a sonic rainboom, was necessary because Twilight had found that, if her many-colored friend performed one close to the appropriate time, no matter what precautions Twilight took, it would trigger a magical surge and her normal cutie mark. This required only a promise to arrange a _sextuple _sonic rainboom the next time everypony was Awake in a baseline loop early enough in the timeline.

Step Two was to prevent her parents from applying her for entry to the School For Gifted Unicorns. This loop was early enough, thankfully, that all it would take would be to "lose interest" in the obsessive magical studies her pre-loop self had just begun, and find something non-magical to occupy herself with over the summer. Probably pranking Cadance and Shining Armor, if they weren't Looping. Seeing them with adult eyes, it was always hilarious how desperate they were to hide their budding relationship from both Twilight and her parents.

Step Three, enjoy a life as an ordinary unicorn filly (or at least as "ordinary" as one being foalsat by an alicorn princess could be), avoid magic as much as possible, start school in the fall, and see what happened.

It was a simple plan. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

* * *

Upper East Canterlot Elementary was not much like the School For Gifted Unicorns or even that most terrible of tortures, Magic Kindergarten. For one, there were earth ponies and pegasi attending, though they were a minority of the herd of students. For another, Twilight Sparkle was neither the famous personal student of the Princess, nor a bullied outcast who couldn't control her weak magic.

It was actually rather refreshing to just be a background face in the crowd, and for the first few months of class Twilight just drifted while pondering what kind of cutie mark to seek out, carefully doing just well enough in classes to be counted as a good student, but not enough to make a name for herself as exceptional. She made many acquaintances but no friends, but also no enemies. There was still a sizable enough mass of students in her year without cutie marks that her own blank flank normally attracted no comments.

Today was one of the exceptions, but not due to the (sadly for the most part inevitable) bullying that late blank flanks endured. During P.E., Twilight had – quite accidentally – managed to score the winning goal in a game of hoofball, from over halfway across the field. Her own team, half the opposing side, and even the coach, had immediately clustered around her, and the groans of disappointment as they'd found her lavender fur unmarked had been audible.

While it _would_ have technically met her goals, Twilight Sparkle could not be disappointed that she'd failed to reveal a special destiny of being good at kicking balls into nets. She was certain there were ponies that would find that a happy and fulfilling hobby, but it wasn't really _her_. Which was probably why she was still a blank flank, actually. Twilight had been so focused on avoiding anything that even hinted of magic that she'd deliberately avoided doing pretty much anything she loved. She wasn't going to get a cutie mark that way.

As she headed home (P.E being the final class of the day for her class section), Twilight was lost in thought. Maybe she should start showing her enjoyment of reading and aim for a librarian cutie mark, she wondered as she turned a corner, or would it be better to try new things and find something she didn't know she enjoyed yet? Then she stopped dead. Somepony was _following_ her! Why would anypony do that?

"Come out, whoever you are!" Twilight yelled, glancing up at the trees that lined the narrow cross-street she usually took on her way home.

Not completely surprisingly, it was one of her classmates who came down to street level in clumsy, hesitant flight.

"Um... hi?" the orange pegasus colt said awkwardly as he landed in front of Twilight, his wings closing on his sides.

Twilight glared at him for just a moment. "Flash Sentry, right?" she asked. That had actually been a surprise, that the stallion who frequently became the captain of her guard when she became a Princess had grown up in the same neighborhood as her.

"Yes?" he said nervously, shifting away a little, like he was about to bolt. Whatever he might become in the future, right now he was still a little blank flank colt that she'd caught stalking her.

Twilight decided to just raise an eyebrow.

Flash Sentry shifted again before answering the unspoken question. "You ran off so fast after P.E., Twilight. I just... I wanted to let you know I think you're really -" He stopped suddenly, turned bright red, and started stammering. "I... I... mean I... I wanted to say I thought that _kick_ was really awesome, that's all!"

Twilight was only able to hold her stern expression for a moment before she started to giggle. Okay, the stalking was a bit creepy, maybe, but it was almost certainly innocent, and more importantly adorable. Maybe a little harmless schoolyard romance was just the thing to make her push her limits and find something unmagical to...

That was when somepony rammed into her from behind. Twilight let out a surprised yelp as she stumbled forward into Flash Sentry, sending both of them tumbling over.

"Excuse me," the filly behind them said, choking back a sob and pushing past the two young ponies, her eyes fixed on the ground.

"Hey, wait!" Flash Sentry called out as he stood, disentangling himself from Twilight.

Twilight rose as well, studying the pink-maned white unicorn, tall for her age, who had stopped dead a yard or so away. It took only a moment to place her as a student in the same year but another class. "Your name is Fleur, right?" she asked. Another pony she remembered from other loops, though only vaguely. She became friends with Rarity sometimes, didn't she?

Fleur just nodded, not even turning to face Twilight and Flash.

"Are you okay?" the pegasus asked worriedly. "It sounded like you were cry-"

"Shut _up!_" Fleur interrupted. "What do you care? Leave me alone and go back to flirting with the hoofball star!"

Flash Sentry took a step back, his wings flapping wildly. "It... it isn't like that! Twilight, I swear -"

Twilight ignored him for the moment, walking past him and up to Fleur. "Blue Belle, right?" she asked. Schoolyard politics were not terribly hard for her to sort out, though they actually were more mature than the adult version sometimes.

For the first time, Fleur turned her head back to look at Twilight. "Yes, all right?" she snapped, while she talked revealing silver braces on her teeth. "She called me an ugly, clumsy blank flank who can't trot five steps without tripping over her own four hooves, and I want to go off and cry about it like the crybaby I am, so just _go away_."

Flash Sentry looked angry, and Twilight decided to say something to derail the train of thought the was almost certainly going through his mind before he said or did something stupid. "We're all blank flanks," Twilight said quietly, slowly stepping closer to the other filly, "and..." she trailed off, then with an exaggerated glance back at Flash pressed against Fleur and whispered in her ear, "if my brother's magazines are any sign, in a few years the colts will find long legs _very _attractive."

Fleur blushed, the scarlet flush easily visible through pale fur. "Shut up," she said, though far less harshly, though she still stepped away. "That's gross."

Flash Sentry looked confused. "What did you say, Twilight?"

Twilight giggled, and after a moment Fleur joined her. Twilight offered a hoof. "I'm Twilight Sparkle," she introduced herself.

Fleur gingerly touched hooves, giving a weak shake. "Fleur Dis Lee," she said.

Not to be left out, the lone colt offered, "Flash Sentry."

Twilight glanced at her two companions, a thought occurring. Well, for the parallel to be exact she'd have to turn Flash into a filly and Fleur into an earth pony, but those were minor details. A wicked grin appeared on her face. "I have an idea..."

Fleur looked nervous. "What?"

"We're all blank flanks, aren't we?" Twilight asked, and started to explain. As she did, Fleur's eyes widened and Flash started to grin. "...and we could form our own secret society!" Twilight finished excitedly.

"It needs a name, though," Fleur observed, her distress apparently forgotten in the wake of Twilight's proposal.

"Triple Cutie Threat!" Flash Sentry proposed.

The two fillies shared a look and a giggle, then Twilight smiled. Trademarks didn't persist between loops, so she might as well go all the way. "The Cutie Mark Crusaders."

* * *

When the three young ponies knocked on the door of Twilight's home a couple hours later, Twilight's mom gave them one look, then sent them around back to rinse off with the garden hose before coming inside.

"That kind of tree isn't even supposed to _have_ this much sap," Twilight said sourly as she pretended to struggle with her magic to loosen the stuck valve and turn the water on.

"And we're banned from _every_ bowling alley in Canterlot!" Fleur wailed. "It's terrible."

"Let me get it," Flash said, reaching for the valve. Twilight let him have it. "It was a lot of fun, though," he said, grunting as the stubborn metal refused to budge.

"Yeah," Fleur said softly. "It was. I... I really liked it. Thank you."

Twilight smiled. "What are friends for?" she offered.

"Are we friends?" Fleur asked.

Flash glanced at her. "Of course we are," he said, sounding confused that it was even a question. Twilight just grinned and nodded.

Fleur was still a moment, then suddenly engulfed the other two in a hug.

"Hey!" Flash protested, struggling a little to get free.

Twilight just returned the hug, smiling. Even if the experiment failed – again – this loop would be worth it just for the chance to make new friends.

There was a familiar tingling on her side, and Fleur gasped suddenly.

"Wow, Twilight," Flash said. "You're really good at this whole earning cutie marks thing!"

Twilight started to wrestle herself free. "What is it?" she demanded, and when she finally could she twisted her head around to see for herself.

A familiar starbust stared back at her, and Twilight froze. How? She hadn't been doing anything even remotely magical... _oh_. "Ponyfeathers," she swore, drawing a scandalized gasp from Fleur and a puzzled look from Flash.

Ignoring the two for a moment, Twilight planted her hoof in her face. It was something she, of all ponies, should never have forgotten to take into account.

"What's wrong with it, Twilight?" Flash asked.

Twilight groaned before answering, not that he was likely to understand. "Friendship _is _magic."

* * *

29.7

"Right." Applejack looked across the kitchen counter. "Ready?"

"Sure!" Pinkie chirped.

They both looked down at the ingredients strewn all over the kitchen. Apples, flour, milk, apples, sugar, apples, a little chocolate, apples, apples, yeast, apples, eggs, butter, cinnamon and apples.

"We're gonna get this whole buffalo business sorted out once and for all," Applejack said grimly. "Now… go!"

Pinkie grabbed a whisk and poured the flour, some of the sugar, the eggs and some butter into the bowl. "Working on the pastry, cap'n!"

"Gotcha," Applejack replied, picking up a knife and getting to work on the apples, the apples and the apples. "Pass me that cinnamon, would'ya?"

"Sure!" Pinkie spun her head as she worked, which flipped the cinnamon into the air. It bounced off the ceiling, the lid came off, and just enough cinnamon to flavour the apples spilled onto them before it hit the workbench and the lid landed right back on top of it again.

Applejack blinked. "Okay, how'd y'all do that?" she mumbled around the knife handle.

Pinkie shrugged, still enthusiastically mixing.

"Eh, whatever." After a suspicious look, Applejack got back to the apples.

* * *

Slowly and reverently, Pinkie withdrew the baking tray from the oven.

Resting on it were six Apple-Pie Apple Pies.

With a series of _thuds_, two of the Crusaders and Winona crashed into the side of the house.

"Guess you like the smell, do ya?" Applejack said, leaning out the window. "Hey, where's Scootaloo?"

"Dunno," Sweetie replied, standing still and sniffing at the delicious aromas coming out of the window.

Then there was the sound of a crash on the roof.

"I'm okay!" Scootaloo shouted. "But my hang glider isn't… wow, that smells _good_."

"They ain't for you," Applejack said sternly. "Maybe the next batch, but not this one. These are gonna head off a war."

* * *

"So." The buffalo chief stared across a table at his opposite number. "You wish to bargain with us?"

"We do," Silver Star answered. "We would prefer peace to war."

"You think you are the only ones?" Thunderhooves shrugged. "But no matter. Posturing will not bring peace."

Applejack sidled up to the table. "Ah think it might calm tempers if y'all had some food while you're negotiatin'."

"Sounds good," Silver Star said. "What is it?"

"Apple Pie." Applejack trotted over to a cart and took two covered dishes from it. Putting them in front of the dignitaries, she swept the covers off in one motion.

Then she noticed Pinkie had got out a banjo, and tackled her before she ruined everything.

"This… smells good," Thunderhooves said slowly, looking down at the Apple Pie.

Then, as though on an invisible signal, both he and Silver Star dove into their Pies.

Thirty seconds later, they were done.

"That was _very_ good," the sheriff said, licking his lips. "Er… are there any more?"

Applejack and Pinkie exchanged glances. Then looked around at the large, curious herds of buffalo and ponies.

"We may have made a teensy amount too few…" Pinkie suggested. "I suggest we run."

Applejack nodded solemnly. Then both of them broke into a gallop, headed for the train line.

"Well, on the bright side, at least they're not fighting any more!" Pinkie said chirpily.

"Yay," Applejack deadpanned. "Next time, we make as many of 'em as we can fit in a train!"

* * *

29.8

"I can't believe this," Rarity said, shaking her head.

"Really?" Spike replied, blinking. "_This_ is becoming a big deal?"

"Of course it is!" Rarity frowned. "This is a very important… issue…"

She trailed off.

"On balance, the fact that you keep eating the spoons isn't all that major," she allowed. "But I don't like your blithe dismissal of my concerns."

"So… I'm right, but you don't like how I was right?" Spike checked.

"Not quite. You should give my opinions the weight they deserve."

"Again, what I was saying, but casting me in a more negative light. That's got _me_ annoyed now." Spike tapped a claw on the floor. "Okay, look. We're just going to keep finding excuses to snarl at one another if we don't work this off. I suggest the Frozen North. Two hours, full battle rattle, first one unconscious has to wash up."

Rarity looked over at her sink, despite herself. "There's nothing _to_ wash up."

"Which is why I'm going to let Pinkie Pie make a making up cake in here," Spike replied with an evil grin.

"You wouldn't!" Rarity gasped.

Spike waved a paw. "On reflection… I think I would, actually."

"Spike, if you _dare-"_

"Well, you'd better beat me, then, hadn't you?" he challenged. "I mean, if you do, then the net result is cake."

Rarity scowled.

* * *

"Why am I involved in this?" Twilight asked, seemingly to herself.

"In case we are both knocked out and need to be transported back to Ponyville," Spike replied, now about fifty feet long.

"And so that you can bear witness that I've won," Rarity added. She had her wings out, and was wearing something made out of woven diamond and magic, which still bore the faint proof-scarring from when she'd tested it.

By jumping between Chrysalis and Celestia's beam war at the Canterlot Wedding.

"Okay." Twilight rolled her eyes. "Seriously, can't you two have _normal_ couples' spats?"

"No," the other two replied in unison.

"Right. Okay, the rules are, nothing fatal. Though given what you two are like, I didn't need to tell you anyway… go!"

Twilight slammed up a bunker shield, and watched the fireworks.

* * *

"Oooh…" the population of Manehattan breathed, watching some particularly energetic northern lights.

"Aaaahhh…"

* * *

Princess Luna opened the door to her bedroom, ready for a well-earned day's rest.

Then she paused.

"Sister? Didst thou install a dragon in mine room when I was not looking?"

* * *

"Twilight…" Celestia said, her voice slightly strained, "Why is Spike asleep in my sister's bedroom? For that matter, why is he fifty feet long and covered in scorch marks?"

Behind them, Luna poked at the slumbering dragon with the butt of a guard's spear. Occasionally, she muttered something under her breath.

"It's a long story," Twilight said weakly. "Luna's bedroom was the best place I could find for them to sleep it off."

"Them?"

"Aha!" Luna said, with an air of triumph in her voice. "I have found another interloper!" Then her tone changed. "I was aware of Cadence, but her cutie mark is not much like the one you vouchsafed to me. That is a diamond repeated three times, not the Crystal Heart…"

Twilight shook her head. "Okay, I'll start from the beginning. Can you send for cocoa? This could take a while."

* * *

Barely-within-rating omake (Stainless Steel Fox):

Omake

Rarity stirred, and snuggled against Spike's neck. "Ohhh Spike! You're so strong and tough. I love the way your scales shine like diamonds when you swoop..."

The big dragon rumbled happily, shrinking down a couple of age categories until he was Big Mac sized. "I have the most beautiful and most amazing filly in the world as a girlfriend. Have I told you how incredibly sexy you are when you're angry?

"Oh Spike!" "Oh Rarity!" "Oh brother!"

The pair suddenly realised they weren't alone and stopped what looked to be the start of an epic makeout session.

"Twilight?" Rarity looked up, and noticed the purple unicorn standing there, and behind her, Princess Luna and Celestia. "Eep!"

She hauled up the bedsheets around herself, noticing for the first time that they had Luna's cutie-mark. "This isn't what it looks like!"

"Actually it sort of is..." admitted Spike.

* * *

29.9 (FanOfMostEverything)

* * *

**Mellon Collie and the Infinite Pinkness**

Applejack took a deep breath and ran a hand through his short-cut hair. There were at least two things wrong with that sentence in his opinion, but the universe seemed to care even less than usual. "Alright, let's review. Twilight, yer… what exactly?"

The rather short girl adjusted her glasses. "A humanoid interface for the Integrated Data Thought Entity."

Applejack's local memories offered a literary reference she didn't recognize. That seemed to be a habit this Loop. "Right, an' that is?"

"Basically, imagine the end result of a Loop if Apple Bloom were the Anchor."

After pondering this for a moment, Applejack asked, "So mah baby sister's gonna invent magic?"

Twilight frowned. "Well, it's not magic so much as manipulating the metadata of existence through—"

"Right, magic." Applejack turned to the other boy in the group. "Rarity, yer—"

"Elusive in this context, dear."

It just wasn't fair, Applejack thought. Even when they were both stallions, Rarity was still prettier. "Right. _Elusive_, yer still sort of a unicorn?"

This got a nod. "Yes, but my magic only works in certain locations. 'Closed spaces,' as they're called."

"An' we ain't in one."

Elusive's mild grin shifted to utmost seriousness. "Believe me, Applejack, if we were in a closed space, you'd know."

"Er, right. Good to know." Applejack shifted focus to Fluttershy. He wasn't afraid. It just seemed prudent. If there was an element of haste, it was simply to get this review over with all the faster. "Now, Shy, yer a time traveller?"

Fluttershy nodded. "From classified information years in the… oh." She blushed. "Sorry. This is a very powerful mental block. I'd have to Ascend to bypass it."

The idea was tempting, but Applejack shook his head. "Let's save that 'til we really need it." He moved to the last person in the room. "Rainbow, yer a mob boss's daughter?"

"Apparently." Dash grinned, revealing rather prominent canines. "Whoever I am doesn't normally hang out with you guys, but that's not gonna stop me."

"Wouldn't have it any other way, sugarcube." Applejack frowned. "And meanwhile, here Ah am, not so much as a scrap of magic t' mah name."

Twilight gave a puzzled frown. "What are you talking about? You can still earthbend, access your dimensional pocket, Ascend—"

"Far as mah memories go, Ah mean."

"Oh." The interface had the decency to blush. "Sorry."

"And then there's Pinkie Pie," noted Elusive.

The door to the club room slammed open. Speak of the Nightmare, thought Applejack, and she will appear.

Hand on her hips and smile on her face, Paizumiya Pinkuhi stood proudly in the doorway. "Hello, SOS-Dan! Are you ready to find the impossible?"

The five humans stared at their friend, knowing that the question was entirely rhetorical. No matter what they said, she'd browbeat them into helping her saving the world by overloading it with fun. Even if she couldn't do it directly, subconscious reality distortion would make it so.

Twilight broadcast a message to the other Awakened members of the brigade through something distinct from telepathy in ways only she cared about. _I can honestly say I have never been more terrified in my entire existence._ The others could only nod.

Pinkuhi took this as assent. "Great! Hope you're all ready, 'cause I've got a big, big itinerary planned. Kyon, you're paying."

Applejack sighed. Ascension was looking more and more appealing.

* * *

29.10 (misterq)

* * *

Rarity eyed the pink-coated pony that Rainbow Dash had awoken as in this loop, took a deep breath and asked, "Why?"

"Why what?" Rainbow Dash, still a pegasus but now in the body of Firefly, asked innocently as she hovered in the air.

Rarity, now Sparkler, just stared accusingly.

Firefly sighed and broke, "Fine, I made a mistake. Ancient proto-Equestrian alternate history was never my strong suit in school. What was I supposed to think? Besides, even without going all ascendant alicorn on his flank, we're all more than a match for that Tirak by ourselves. Look at me! I was awesome before, but now I'm so fast I can rip holes into other dimensions. You have even more affinity for jewels and stuff than you used to."

"It's galled gemomancy; and yes, as Sparkler, I find that I can control them to a much higher degree," Sparkler said as she casually ripped out a sizable emerald shard out of the earth and sent it streaking into and through a nearby oak tree. "That still doesn't excuse what you did."

Firefly swallowed heavily, "Come on! Look at what Pinkie Pie has become. She's up there flapping around as Surprise and shouting something about legendary super saiyans. Applejack may look the same, but she seems even stronger than she was before."

Applejack tried to walk over to Firefly, but instead stumbled into a nearby sizable tree - knocking it down.

"Why the hay am I so clumsy in this form?"

Pinkie Pie in the form of Surprise was suddenly there, giggling and pointing towards the orange pony, "Because you are a silly pony, Applejack. A very silly pony."

Applejack snorted in annoyance, "That's not even a real answer."

Firefly/Dash continued, "Posey is an earth pony, so she's even more in tune with all those forest critters than Fluttershy was, no matter how impossible that seems. And Twilight. Twilight's special talent is now being a bucking reality warper only a few levels below Discord. Once she pulls herself together, she'll have infinite wishes."

Sparkler looked over at the unicorn, who was lying on her side in a miserable ball, "What is wrong with her?"

Twilight wailed in answer, "I look just like my mother!"

"Technically if this world does evolve into the Equestria we know, you are probably your own great, great, great, great, etcetera grandmother!" Surprise stated happily as she flew off.

"Er, right," Firefly said, "So extra dimensional saviour or not, it doesn't matter. Besides, what would a pony like Firefly think? She punches a hole into another dimension looking for a saviour. The world is in peril. Time is critical. Who was she going to choose? A strange monkey-ape thing that she's never seen before, or this strong stallion?"

"He is just a common human-world horse. He's not even sentient!" Sparkler pointed to the brown equine. Said 'hero' was currently grazing happily. "How did you even carry him here?"

"It wasn't easy. Whatever. Look, I'm going to go punch a hole into an unpleasant dimension and toss that stupid looking centaurian abomination into it. I mean really? Darkness that lasts forever? Been there, done that, kicked it's flank. Come join the party if you want."

"Oh, oh! Me! I want to join the party!" Surprise shouted as she flew after Firefly, followed by a smiling Posey/Fluttershy as she rode on the back of an armoured bear who was at the head of an entire waddling contingent of honey badger cavalry.

Applejack gathered up Twilight and together they stumbled towards what would probably be the very brief and very final confrontation with Tirak.

Sparkler watched them leave, briefly contemplating how her pale blue coat made her even more of a winter. As she started off after her friends, she gave one last look at the oblivious human world stallion, "Ugh. You better not be the reason for how the Saddle Arabians developed."

TJ, the brown horse idly flicked his ear at the odd pony before continuing to ignore everything that wasn't grass or a threat.

* * *

Meanwhile on her family farm in the human dimension, Megan stood around in a daze. Earlier, a wondrous rainbow-looking rift opened up and a magical talking pegasus pony flew in, said she needed someone to help save her world from a monster; and before Megan could volunteer in what would surely be as grand and exciting an adventure as any teenage girl could dream of, the pegasus grabbed TJ, her horse, and flew off.

"Sis, what are you doing here? You've been out here for hours. Where's TJ?" Her sister, Molly, asked as she came near.

Megan slowly turned her head towards her sister, "I don't want to talk about it. Not ever."

* * *

29.11

* * *

The pegasus looked around. "Okay, where the hell am I now? Donald, was this your doing?"

A unicorn trotted unsteadily over. "Wasn't me," he said, with a slight rasp to his voice. "I thought it was your clothes."

"Nope." The pegasus shrugged. "How are you doing with walking?"

"It ain't easy." Donald tripped and nearly faceplanted. "At least you've got wings, Sora. And experience at being four legged!"

"Hey, that's a point." Sora spread them, and flailed at the air until he was aloft. "I'll go look for Goofy."

"Sure, whatever…" Donald sat back, trying to work out how his magic had changed. And, for that matter, how to hold his staff.

* * *

"Huh, new Loopers," Twilight said, as Dash finished describing them. "Well, I don't recognize them from the description. One of each type?"

"Yep, same as usual." Dash nodded. "Strange thing is, only the pegasus is finding, well, walking easy. And even he moves more like Gilda."

"Really?" Twilight nodded. "Huh. Interesting. Well, I'd better go and meet them. Go let Princess Luna know, I think she's Awake."

"Aye aye, Twi!" Dash saluted, and vanished in a _crack_ of displaced air.

* * *

"Oh, right…" Sora said, looking up. "So this is where _you_ came from."

"It is indeed," Luna replied. "You would be Sora, yes?"

"That's right." The pegasus crossed his eyes, and a keyblade flashed into being between his teeth. "_There_ we go, I've been trying to get that to work all morning…" he added in a mumble.

"You know him?" Twilight asked, interested.

"I Replaced one of the people from his Loop once," Luna explained. "That was the same Loop wherein little Nyx did my job."

"Oh, yes, the sideways moon incident," Twilight said, nodding. "Yes, you did tell me about that place. Keys, wasn't it?"

"Pretty much." Sora concentrated, and the keyblade flashed between a dozen different forms. "I've got a _lot_ of choice by now. Anyway, what's your world like?"

"Mostly peaceful, actually…" Twilight said, shrugging. "We can handle most of the villains who show up just fine. Though, actually…" she trailed off, a grin spreading across her face.

"What?" Luna asked, seeing it.

"I was wondering how Sombra would react to being hit by a Keyblade." Twilight shrugged. "Should be interesting."

* * *

29.12 (Stainless Steel Fox)

* * *

Vice principal Luna had called Twilight in and showed her the pictures of her wrecking the Fall Formal. However, this time she wasn't going to stand there and let the Vice principal steamroller right over her.

"Vice Principal Luna. I can state absolutely that these things never happened, and that these photos are as fake as something very fake. I can account for my movements the whole day, and most of the time I was even in the company of Pinkie Pie, the planner in charge of the Fall Formal. If I had wrecked it, she'd be the last po-person to give me an alibi. I assume the motivation you felt applied was that I tried to delay it to buy more time to win my bid to be Princess of the Fall Formal from Sunset Shimmer? If so then you are out of date. My friends and I have already done an end run around her and her friends Snips and Snails. If you took the votes right now, it would be Sunset Shimmer who would lose. You can check all this for yourself."

The Vice-principal looked at her sternly, but the teenager just stood there calmly, not defensive, just without a doubt.

"So how do _you_ account for these photos?"

Twilight took on a thoughtful attitude. "Well, there are three parts to it, method, means and motivation. Method and means are intertwined. The background is real, and so are the images of me, but the whole is not, so somehow, someone got photos of me doing something energetic, like the game of football I had with Rainbow Dash, and added my image over the real culprit. I can think of several ways, either using the school computer and image editing software, or just cutting out a physical photo and running the altered image through a colour photocopier. So I'd ask my friends if they saw anyone taking photos of my game with Dash.

"As to motivation... Who would benefit most from destroying my credibility as a Fall Formal Princess entrant, and delaying the event to give themselves time to regain control of the vote? Someone who's already used sneaky tactics and disinformation to character assassinate me? If it was the same person who brought you those photos, I'd definitely find them suspect. Out of interest, who is my accuser?"

"Sunset Shinmmer." Principal Luna's experession hardened.

"Maybe you should ask her how she got those photos, and why the person taking them didn't try to stop me instead of just collecting evidence."

There was a knock on the door. Flash Sentry came in and gave her the doctored photos.

"Vice Principal Luna. I found these in a trash can in the library. Thought you should see them. Someone obviously combined these photos to make it _look_ like Twilight was the one who trashed the gym."

"I see. Well that is a point for your theory. Of course it also seems convenient that that evidence came to light..."

Twilight smiled. "A double bluff? Setting this up myself to make Sunset Shimmer look like the culprit? I did spend some time in the library, but my alibi still stands, and as I said, my friends did an amazing job of getting people on my side. I don't need complicated ploys or to take her out of the running. Simple honesty and bringing people together is a far better strategy than trying to cheat and con my way in. Like I said, take the vote right now, you'll see the truth. I suspect if you check the movements of Snips and Snails, Sunset Shimmer doesn't seem to be the sort to do her own dirty work, you will also see what's going on."

Vice-principal Luna nodded. "Very well. I am afraid enough damage has been done to the gym that we will have to postpone the dance until tomorrow night. If you will excuse me, I need to let my sister know about this latest development. And to ask some questions of Sunset Shimmer."

Twilight shook her head. "I will talk to Pinkie and see if we can get things together sooner than that. After all, I ran for Princess on a platform of helping out and coming together as a school, maybe I can get some people to follow up on that and help out."

As they left she turned to Flash Sentry. "Thank you! You have no idea how important this is to me"

He chuckled. "What was I gonna do? Not prove your innocence? Wouldn't be much of a Canterlot Wondercolt, would I? So, uh, I was wondering. If you aren't already going with somebody, wanna go to the Fall Formal with me tomorrow night?"

Twilight had no intention of hurting his feelings, even accidentally this time round. "It will be tonight, and yes, I would love to be your date."

She turned to face him, hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. "If you have some free time, anybody you can round up to help fix the decorations would be good."

She had to giggle at the complete experssion of brain-lock this resulted in. "I'll see you later..."

As she turned around the end of the hall, she heard a "YESS!" and allowed herself another grin.

* * *

29.13

"G4," Shining Armor said, playing a card on the table.

"Snap," Discord replied, playing his own. "And that brings my score to a multiple of seven."

"One hundred and eighteen isn't a multiple of seven…" Shining said uncertainly.

Discord pointed to one of the other cards in play. "Bad mathematics. Lets me adjust the result or input of a calculation up or down by one."

Cadence flipped back and forth through the rulebook. "So that means…"

Discord shifted a counter. "I put my own joker in check, and switch allegiances from Prance to the letter Q."

Celestia slammed a card down on the table. "Contingency card! I get the yellow marble."

"Then you have a beard," Luna pointed out.

"Drat, I do. That makes me vulnerable to the Queensburg Defence." Celestia examined the table. "Baker Street."

"East Ham," Luna replied.

"Mornington Crescent!" Cadence collected four cards from the others around the table, then played two of them. "I change history so that the horse collar was never invented, and that triggers a cascade which leads to me getting four extra Lands and a brand of cheese."

"Drat," Celestia said absently. "So much for my gambit. Luna, your turn."

"I'm cashing in my lands for an army," Luna said, shuffling them into the deck. "That lets me take two of Discord's lands and summon the Moon. Four turns until impact!"

Cadence helpfully moved the moon counter to the number four.

"Thank you. And now I'm going to purchase a manor at Trottingham, which puts me on a double word score."

After looking at the result of that for a moment, Cadence drew a card. "Yes, it's my special! Crystal Heart, my holdings are immune to damage for the foreseeable future and so I trade across all my other defences for political power and waffles. Then I loot the room, which gives me treasure. Your turn, Shiny."

Shining Armor stared at his hand, then at the board. "I have no idea what is going on."

* * *

AN:

Three of these were actually moved from set 28 for space reasons.  
29.1: Yes, it is technically a storm. No, I have no idea how she did it.  
29.2: Internal Hasbro crossover?  
29.3: Sometimes, the characters just take over and have their own conversation.  
29.4: Some sights you will take with you to the end of time.  
29.5: Yes, this IS why I had Fluttershy teaching ears first.  
29.6: D'oh!  
29.7: These aren't just apple pies. These are A&P Apple Pies.  
29.8: Every couple fights sometimes...  
29.9: Be very glad Pinkie isn't Awake.  
29.10: Perception is everything.  
29.11: Remember these guys?  
29.12: All those things you wish you'd said the first time around.  
29.13: This is that card game Discord invented. I don't know either.


	30. Chapter 30

30.1 (Stainless Steel Fox)

* * *

More Turning the Tables (at long last)

"Careful with that cabinet!" Prince Blueblood called out. "It's Chippendale!"

"I didn't know they went into furniture making after their detective career..." Pinkie Pie mused.

The size of the party would push the carrying capacity of Blueblood's yacht to its limit, so all non-essential equipment was being off loaded under the eyes and fussy attitude of the Prince. Inside the Town hall, Shining Armour passed a scroll to one of the pegasus guards and said, "Concorde, take this to Princess Cadence with all speed!"

"Yes sir!" The pegasus saluted and trotted out, flexing his wings.

Shining Armour turned to Twilight and asked, "Okay, so why have I just sent a message that may end up creating another evil alicorn?"

"The notes I included should explain how Cadence could use her love magic to 'burn out' the taint of evil that the Alicorn Amulet casts on its wearer. Of course she doesn't have the theoretical background to understand them herself, unless she took a night school course I didn't hear about, but Spell Nexus or one of the senior lecturers at the school can help her put it into practice.

"At the moment it's only a theory, but even so, the Amulet doesn't turn you evil instantly. From my research it's insidious, slowly twisting your perceptions, but that means that it'll take a long time to affect some-pony as good and decent as Cadence. As long as she only puts it on when she confronts Nightmare Moon, and takes it off as soon as possible, she should be fine."

"I don't like the 'should'." Shining grimaced. "How did you come to be figuring out something like that anyway?"

"Research!" Twilight grinned triumphantly. "I came across it while I was studying artificing techniques. Obviously, I wondered how you could get the power boost without the mental problems, and thought of Cadence's power. Admittedly the whole thing is a 'Hail Celestia' play, but an alicorn with the amulet's power boost is about the only other thing I can think of that could stand up to Nightmare Moon. You remember what Von Clawswitz, the griffon general once said?"

"'Better a dozen unneeded plans than one unmade one.'" Shining quoted. "Let's just hope it isn't needed."

He hadn't realised Twilight had retained so much of the studying she'd done while helping him to prepare for his commission exam. But then, his little sister had been surprising him ever since they'd met up again. He knew she was smart, not to mention powerful, but despite the breakdown she'd had, now she was demonstrating a confidence and ability he'd never seen before. These friends of hers must really be something.

"Okay, we're ready to go, guys!" Rainbow Dash appeared at the doorway. They emerged from the town hall and out from under the day-light bubble to find the final preparations for their journey had been made.

The 'Blueblood', named for the owner's grandfather, was a typical luxury air-racer. A sleek single deck hull, a dozen pony-lengths from bow to stern and a quarter that in the beam, it lacked the size of a full yacht like that of Fancy Pants. However its rakish lines and white and gold trim as well as the twin sets of powerful wing-sails at the stern screamed both style and speed, or would have done if it hadn't been far too sophisticated to do anything as gauche as scream.

The envelope above was three times the size of the gondola, and decorated as a gold dragon with its wings raised in mid-flight. It was filled with lift-gas from reserves stored in the keel, and its interior surface had heating spells that could be activated to increase lift. Magic also powered the heating and cooling charms that drove the closed cycle steam engine under the stern. While more expensive than a regular coal fired boiler, it was far lighter and didn't require a stoker, both important factors on a small air-ship.

Blueblood was already at the controls, dressed in a natty billed cap and yachting blazer. The rear part of the open deck lacked a true poop deck, but it was raised a few hoofs from the sweep of the main part, with a chest high combing protecting the wheel. The other ponies trooped aboard, several having to go down into the long cabin that took up the balance of the interior that wasn't occupied by the engines and lift-gas reserves.

Big Mac was one of them, as the lower down his heavier wood body was the better it would be. Fluttershy had gone with him, her normal timidity around ponies apparently lessened by the fact that he had the appearance of a giant arborean predator who could rip her to pieces with a single claw swipe (Fluttershy had issues). Applejack was also down below with her brother, and a saddlebag full of apples and other supplies.

Rarity was on deck, and dressed in her own yachting costume. She'd apparently had one made for a long time, and she was going to wear it for all it was worth while she had the chance. Pinkie Pie was bouncing around on deck too, zipping back and forth to examine everything, while Rainbow Dash wasn't even on deck but above it, ready to fly escort and looking impatiently at the last two ponies to board.

The gang-plank retracted as they stepped on deck, and Blueblood manipulated levers and hoof pedals. The wing-sails at the back began to flap in a complicated mechanical pattern, and the dirigible started to rise, very slowly, and move forwards at an equally arthritic pace. Rainbow Dash had started to fly off, and zoomed back when it didn't follow her.

"C'mon Blueblood, get the hail out! I thought you said that heap was fast!"

Blueblood stared up at the annoyed pegasus, matching her expression. "It is, and I'll thank you not to call the Blueblood a 'heap'! However, I normally don't have this many passengers. It's taking maximum heat to the gas-bag and additional thrust from the wing-sails to get us to rise at all, let alone make headway! And without some air speed, I can't angle the dragon wings to provide extra lift. We're too heavy!"

"I knew I shouldn't have had that extra slice of cake!" Rarity bemoaned. "Tell me Twilight, has it gone to my flanks?"

"You look fine to me." Twilight replied. "But we shouldn't be that over-loaded... Well, I guess we'll just have to give it some extra omph!"

"Oooh! Pinkie exclaimed, "I've never had had oomph before! What flavour is it?"

"Magic flavour!" Twilight grinned, and brought her horn down to touch the decking. A series of lines spread out from the tip, glowing as they etched a pattern into the wood.

"Careful!" Blueblood cried out. "That deck is made of Zebrican teak!"

"I'm sure we can sand it out." Twilight replied without taking eyes or horn from the deck where an intricate ritual diagram had been burnt, with a triangle as the central figure. "If you still want to after you see what it does. Shiny, Rarity, could you stand at the other two points of the triangle?"

"Okay, Twily."

"Of course, dear... this won't hurt will it?"

Twilight stepped onto the final point of the triangle and her horn started to glow as she looked between the other two unicorns. "Not a bit, it shouldn't even prove tiring... can you feel my magic?"

"If you mean that fizzy, tingly sensation under my hooves, then yes!" Rarity looked surprised. "Yes, I can!"

"Try to match it, you too big brother!" The three unicorn horns started to glow, and the diagram lit up in sympathy, glowing lines that mixed the colours of the three horns. Blueblood saw every dial on his control panel slam over to the maximum peg, and the Blueblood seemed to leap forward under his hooves. Suddenly she was as fleet and nimble as she ever had been or even more so. His air-speed gauge showed she was doing twenty percent over her maximum.

"Woo hoo! Now that's more like it!" cheered Dash.

"Careful! I'm not sure the envelope can take it!" The dragon shell that decorated the gas bag was also a framework that added support, while the wings gave lift, making it more than a simple blimp, but Blueblood knew they weren't designed for this speed.

"It's okay, I'm diverting some of the power into a structural integrity spell." Twilight called back. "Or rather the rune-set is."

Pinkie Pie was already at the bow, standing on her hind legs with her fore-hooves outstretched. "Hey! I'm Princess of the world! Whee! Except for Celestia, and Cadence, and I guess Luna..."

"Goodness, I hardly feel as if I'm putting any effort in." Rarity said.

"It's the triune. The total power is far greater than the sum of its parts... rather like friendship." Twilight wasn't exactly lying. However, this was the perfect way to disguise the fact that she was putting in far more power than the other two. She could easily have carried the whole air-ship at even greater speeds if she tapped her full alicorn powers, and she really wanted to get this done.

They'd made a good start; they'd already gone out over the Everfree and covered an hour's walk in a few minutes. Twilight could even see that they were not far from the clearing where Zecora lived. A flock of birds rose from the trees below, startled by the passing air-ship... No, not startled, as they swarmed up around it, black raptor looking things with glowing green slit-pupil eyes...

Dash dived on the cluster coming up on one side and tried to scare them off, but they ignored her, other than trying to catch her with their talons and sharp edged wing tips.

"Oh you want to do this the hard way? Fine!" Dash weaved and ducked the smaller creatures and lashed at one with a cloud-busting hoof. It connected, and the 'bird' poofed into black smoke.

"Eeek! Black Snooty!" Pinkie squeaked, but quickly recovered and pulled a long handled net from somewhere, sweeping it about to catch the birds.

"All hooves on deck!" Blueblood called out, reaching up and setting his billed cap at a rakish angle. "Prepare to repel boarders!"

Fluttershy and the Apple family members came storming up, crowding the deck, and both Applejack and Big Mac took a side, Applejack bucking out apples with pin-point precision and knocking the birds back, while Big Mac just demolished them with wide swipes of his claws.

"Please! Stop this, you don't want to get hurt..." Fluttershy tried to reach out to the birds, and recoiled with a whimper as she seemed to make contact with them. "They're not animals! They're... horrible!"

"Oh you did _not_ pull that kinda horse-apples with Fluttershy!" Dash growled and flew over the top of the balloon to swoop down on the offending birds. However, it was clear that the gondola wasn't their main target. Bird after bird swept past the envelope, cruel claws and razor wings slicing at the fabric, creating rent after rent. The cuts healed as they were sealed back together with bursts of purple magic, but it couldn't quite keep up with the damage.

"I'm loosing lift!" Blueblood yelled, "I'm trying to compensate by feeding in more lift-gas, but my reserves are almost gone! Do something!"

The Blueblood started to sink and slow down despite the best efforts of the unicorns to support it. Dash and the others did their best to disperse the birds, but there were just too many of them. Twilight was once again trapped by her assumed role, but there were still things she could do. "Every-pony close your eyes!"

Seeing they had, Twilight's horn glow changed colour and brightened. Then it suddenly flashed with a burst of brilliant light the other ponies could feel as well as see through their closed eyes. There was a chorus of pained screeches as the entire area was lit to day-light brightness. The birds broke and fled, but the Blueblood had lurched sickeningly and dropped into a free-fall as she diverted her power into the solar flare spell and the power to the triune became unbalanced.

The ponies on deck grabbed onto whatever they could find, even Fluttershy, who grabbed onto Big Mac. All of them were screaming, though only Pinkie seemed to be enjoying herself. More importantly, Shining Armour and Rarity were lifted off the deck, out of contact with the diagram. Twilight decided she had to up her game and made her horn shimmer with layers of aura, duplicating how she'd once looked when hauling an Ursa Minor around by the scruff of it's neck..

The entire air-ship was enveloped in a purple glow as it slowed down, and the ponies were lowered to the deck. The envelope above was half collapsed, the semi-rigid support structure far more semi than rigid and clearly doing nothing to support them. They watched in awe as Twilight floated above the deck, sparks flying from the tip of her horn. The vision of magical power unleashed spoke to them. "Uh... guys? A little help here?"

That had Shining Armour and Rarity leaping back to their posts. Twilight lowered herself down and re-established the triune. Rainbow Dash cajoled Fluttershy away from her grasp on Big Mac's giant wood form, and into helping her shove some clouds underneath the keel. Between them, they brought the Blueblood down relatively unscathed in the clearing Twilight had spotted earlier.

"Whooe!" Applejack exclaimed, "I knew you had power, I didn't know you had that much!"

"Let's do it again!" Pinkie whooped.

"That was most impressive." Rarity was checking over her costume to see the free fall hadn't carried away anything important.

Twilight blushed, partly from embarrassment at the success of her ploy. "It was a team effort, all of you helped. Besides, I couldn't let you all get hurt. I've hurt enough ponies already."

"My beautiful ship..." Blueblood was examining the collapsed balloon sorrowfully.

Twilight shook her head. "I'm sure it can be fixed up, and if it can't, I'm sure Princess Celestia will replace it. You've already gotten us a good part of the way... We were on course, weren't we?"

Blueblood sniffed, his depression forgotten at the questioning of his skills. "Of course, assuming those maps you found were accurate! We didn't have time to drift when those birds attacked."

"Those weren't birds. I think they were a manifestation of Nightmare Moon. We know she likes transformations." Twilight replied, looking over at timber-wolf Big Mac. "That's why I could drive them away with a solar flare spell."

"Oh great!" Rainbow exclaimed, "That means she knows we're here! Are we going to get more of those scary-crows?"

To be honest, Twilight wasn't sure. The changes she'd made had caused Nightmare Moon to react differently. However, she had a pretty good idea of the being's general mindset, and she could even justify her conclusions with in-loop knowledge.

"Not those most probably, but she will keep attacking. However, I don't think she'll come at us directly, and not for some time. From what Shining told me, and what we saw at the Town Hall, she doesn't have massive amounts of power in reserve, not if she wants to keep Princess Celestia bound, and strengthen the bindings to make them permanent.

"She seems to be a creature of illusions and deceptions, changing forms and twisting minds. Even that attack in the Town Hall was transmutation rather than a direct damage spell. She'll need to husband her power, building up a reserve to attack us each time, so we should have some respite. It's also likely she'll try and trick us, or attack us indirectly through a proxy, rather than wasting power with a direct magic attack."

She decided to pull in something else ahead of schedule. "Of course, now that we're down on the ground, I really wish we had a guide, some-pony who knows the hazards of the Everfree. No offense Prince Blueblood, but while I'm sure you can navigate, navigating it safely is another matter."

"Sugar-cube, no-pony knows what lives in the Everfree forest!" Applejack exclaimed.

"Because no-pony that goes in, ever comes out!" Rainbow Dash added, stalking across the deck and making Fluttershy squeak.

Twilight looked over at the far side of the clearing. Zecora's hut was just visible beyond a screen of trees. She pointed it out to the others. "Well some-pony lives here."

"That's crazy, who'd live in the..." Applejack went pale, "Zecora!"

All the Ponyville ponies shivered at the name. Blueblood and Shining Armour just looked confused.

"Okay, who is this Zecora, and why does she have you all so scared?" Twilight asked, as if she didn't know.

"Because she's eeeeevil!" Pinkie Pie said, waving her fore-hooves in the air.

"She's mysterious and scary..." Fluttershy added.

"All sinister in her cloak and stuff... Not that I'm scared of her, I'm just... worried, yeah worried about every-pony else!" Rainbow Dash added, though the way she had her wings wrapped around her demonstrated that whatever else, she wasn't the element of honesty.

"And she has an absolutely garish colour-scheme! Black and white stripes, can you imagine?" Rarity put in.

"She comes into town about once a month..." Applejack started, only to be corrected by Pinkie Pie. "... creeps evilly into town..." "... and hangs around the stores..." "... lurks around the stores..." "... and paws at the ground..." "... evilly paws at the ground..."

Twilight scratched the back of her neck with a hoof. "Still not seeing why every-pony's scared of her. Doesn't she buy anything at the stores?"

"Of course not! Every-pony closes up shop and hides when she comes into town!"

Twilight looked around at her friends. She hadn't liked this the first time she'd heard it, and it didn't get any better with repetition. She preferred to think the best of her friends, and this was them showing less than their best selves. "So no-pony's actually talked to her?"

There was a chorus of denials.

"Then how can you know anything about her? Wait... when you said black and white stripes, you didn't mean her clothing, did you?"

"No, she dyes her coat and mane that way." Rarity responded.

"Then she's a zebra." Twilight nodded as if confirming a theory.

"Is that some sort of evil spell-caster?" Pinkie asked.

"No, zebras are a race of ponies who live in Zebrica, a land far away to the south, far beyond the Macintosh mountains. They're most similar to earth-ponies with magic that relates to the earth and growing things. However their saganomas, a combination teacher/healer/mage have learned to use their earth magic to cast spells."

"So I was right!" The pink pony exclaimed.

Twilight shook her head. "Hardly, saganomas are if anything the opposite. Lacking a horn, they compound spells from magical herbs and plants, or use them as a base to invest their own earth magic. Their magic is all about healing, protection and enhancing living things."

"Then why is she always creeping about so creepily?"

"It sounds like no-pony's given her a chance to do anything else." Twilight tried to find a way to get through to them. She decide shock tactics might work best. Her horn glowed and she was suddenly zebra striped, with her mane and tail highlights white against black. The Ponyvillians flinched away, but some-pony else laughed.

"What's so funny?" Rainbow growled at Blueblood, who was the source of the laughter.

"Just that you Ponyville ponies can be just as judgmental and wrongheaded as Miss Sparkle claimed I was. It's refreshing, the light from your halos up until now was making me squint, and that does terrible things to the corners of one's eyes."

That got him annoyed looks from the six Ponyville residents until Twilight put in, "Pinkie, you know that it was your upbeat attitude and friendliness that helped me when I first arrived in Ponyville? I'm just glad I wasn't wearing this as a disguise, you'd have probably hidden under the counter or just bucked me back out."

Shining Armour spoke up. "I've got to admit I'm finding this a bit strange too. Zebras don't commonly come to Equestria, they don't even have a full time ambassador in Canterlot, but I've done escort duty for their envoys before now. They're just another type of pony, nice enough folks, nothing to get worried about. Though I don't think I'd be too happy if I'd been treated the way you say she has."

Twilight turned to the others. "Guys, I _know_ you're better than this, shunning some-pony just because she looks different!"

Applejack chipped in. "T'ain't so much that as the fact she lives in the Everfree. What sort of pony would do that?"

That got relieved agreements from most of them, and Twilight dismissed the disguise. She'd never actually explored why they were so scared of Zecora to this extent, and she was happy to know it was less that she looked different than where she lived.

"A saganoma, as I said earlier. The Everfree has the largest and weirdest range of magical plants and creatures in the world. Saganomas use magical plants in their spells, it might be enough to tempt one to come here and research them."

"Or she could be here because she was cast out because she was doing evil things..." Pinkie suggested. "I even wrote a song about it... 'She's an evil enchantrress! She something something prances... enhances... chances... Francis?"

She came to a stumbling halt as she tried out rhymes. "Well I started a song about her. It's a work in progress!"

"Catchy…" Twilight sighed. "Y'know, it's possible you're right, not likely, but I suppose any-pony could go off the rails. Even so, we have to go find out. If she was evil, or even has been turned evil as Princess Luna was by Nightmare Moon... after all, the best of ponies would feel a little unhappy at being shunned like that, and from what I understand, that's exactly the sort of thing a Nightmare exploits... well anyway, if she's a threat we have to deal with her before we go on, or risk her attacking from behind while Nightmare Moon comes at us from the front."

Fluttershy shivered again and hid behind Big Mac. "Do we really have to?"

Oddly enough, it was Big Macintosh who answered her. "Eyup! Miss Sparkle's makin' a passel of sense. Better to meet Zecora now on our terms, than later on hers, I reckon. Besides, I always figured those tales about her were a heapin' helpin' of hooey."

Twilight tried to reassure her. "I'll approach her. I've studied zebra magic and know at least something about its capabilities and its limits. As long as I avoid getting hit by any potions or powders I should be fine. It's the same for every-pony else too. And it's not like we don't have magic of our own."

"Ohhh!" Pinkie exclaimed. "What if Nightmare Moon's granted her some of her power?"

"I should be able to sense that, I got a pretty good read on her magical signature back in Ponyville. But I doubt it, even if Zecora is in league with Nightmare Moon, the Nightmare isn't the sort to share power, not when she needs it herself so badly. Hopefully she's just a regular pony and we can get her as a guide instead. That's how I intend to approach this."

"That's all well and fine, Twilight, but what's to stop her pretending to be all nice and then doing the dirty on us?" Applejack asked.

"You!" Twilight replied. "Or rather your element. The spirit of the element of honesty is within you, and if you focus on it, you should be able to detect whether she's telling the truth."

"I thought we needed those dinguses from that palace to use the Elements?" Applejack scratched the back of her head with a hoof.

"Uh huh, we need them reunited to activate their full power and create the sixth element, but the spirit already exists in you. Just concentrate on listening to everything that happens with a open and honest heart, and you should be able to sense the truth. I know it's a lot to ask for you to put aside your distrust of her, but I'm sure you don't want to see any-pony treated unfairly."

Applejack made a scrunchy face. "If'en you say so Twilight..."

The group got down from the air-ship deck and approached the hut, which was built into a tree. There was light coming from the window s and a thin trail of multi-coloured smoke issuing from a vent in one of the branches, and masks and vials of various concoctions hung from others.

Twilight gushed as they got nearer. "Oh my gosh! Real fetish masks! I've seen pictures, but the real thing... score one for the good guy theory, some are greetings, and some are specifically designed to ward off evil spirits. Quite powerful too, I can sense them from here. I don't know if they'd keep off nightmare Moon, but she'd have to work for it. Pinkie, looks like you were half right at least, she's definitely a saganoma, an enchantress."

The others clustered behind her as she called out. "Hello? Is any-pony home?"

There was no answer for a few moments, then a cloaked figure opened the door. The Ponyville ponies gasped or eeked as their natures led them, but Twilight stood firm. The figure pulled the cloak back to reveal she was Zecora. She spoke in a forbidding voice.

"Leave this place you pony strangers, the Everfree is full of dangers!"

"Unfortunately, we can't. I'm Twilight Sparkle. I believe you are Zecora?"

"You know my name but still come near me? Unlike these others, you do not fear me?" Zecora was questioning, now and sounded slightly surprised.

"Should I have reason to?" Twilight asked. "You're clearly a saganoma, and everything I know about them say they're healers and teachers, who use their powers to help others not hurt them."

Zecora smiled. "You know our ways and speak the truth, but your companions clearly need more proof. When to the village I essay, every-pony runs away."

"I'm sorry you were treated like that, but I hope it won't prejudice you against my request. You've noticed the sun hasn't come up on schedule?"

"Even now I make a brew to scry the cause and what to do."

"I can help you there." Twilight explained what had just happened in Ponyville. She gave Zecora the hoof-clipping version of Nightmare Moon's origin, and how she was defeated the first time. She did a quick and very obvious scan spell to detect if Nightmare Moon was anywhere in the area (which also encompassed Zecora) before continuing.

"The only way to stop Nightmare Moon as far as we know is to find the Elements. According to our information the Palace of the Two Pony Sisters deep in the Everfree is the place to look. We were headed there by air-ship, but we were forced down. We will have to continue on hoof, but we need a guide, some-pony who knows the dangers of the Everfree and how to avoid them. Right now, the only pony who fits the bill is you."

The zebra looked thoughtful. "It's true those ruins I do know, and find the safest ways to go..." She glanced at the Ponyville mares. "...my presence though _they_ won't abide, a grave shortcoming in a guide."

Twilight Sparkle turned to look at the still nervous mane cast. "Guys, I've scanned the area, no signs of Nightmare Moon's contamination anywhere. And Zecora is willing to help us. I think we should at least say thank you. Applejack?"

The mare in question had done her best to quell her fear and listen to the exchanges. Twilight was setting great store by this element business, and while she was pleased by the complement, the farm mare wasn't exactly sold on the idea that she had some mystical magic power inside her... apart from the standard issue earth pony ones. However, Applejack had never been a quitter, and she prided herself on being dependable.

So she'd done her best to listen to what the striped mare was saying, and so far, it hadn't been anything like she'd expected. Her weird way of rhyming wasn't normal, but the words held little of the rancor she'd expected. Indeed, she sounded a lot like a younger version of Granny Smith, wise and self assured. Something inside Applejack resonated with that, made her want to trust the other mare, but she mentally shied back.

What if it was a trick, what about the stories... Now she thought back on them, her stubborn sense of integrity was worrying at them. How exactly had they started? She couldn't remember, but they were things every-pony knew... of course, Granny Smith always said 'If every-pony knows it, but no-pony can prove it, there's a good chance every-ponies wrong.'

She made a decision. It wasn't an easy decision, or a comfortable one, but it felt like the right one. "Ah apologise Miss Zecora. I normally have better manners. I'm Applejack and I'd be only too glad to ask you to lead us through the forest." She looked over at the others. "Folks, I think we've been doing the lady a disservice, both here and in Ponyville. I intend to make amends. Miss Zecora, when next you come to town, please stop on by Sweet Apple Acres and I'll make you one of my special apple pies."

The zebra smiled. "Your change of heart is most insightful. The pie too would be most delightful."

Rainbow Dash shrugged and called down from where she was hovering. "I guess if Applejack thinks your on the level, I'm okay with it. I'm Rainbow Dash, Dash to my friends, awesome to every-pony else. Welcome aboard."

Rarity hesitated for a moment, then put on a warm smile. She'd been a part of the gossip, but she knew how that same gossip could get out of hoof, and now she met the pony face to face, she was feeling more than slightly guilty over her part in shunning the zebra, especially as both Twilight and Applejack had given her the all clear. Not to mention it rankling that _Blueblood_ of all ponies had called her on it. The generous side of her nature kicked in.

"Rarity, maker of fine couture. I should apologise as well. If you are in need of a new cloak or something I would be only to happy to supply it."

Fluttershy just squeaked 'I'm sorry!', but gave a nod.

Pinkie was the hardest sell. She gave an uncharacteristic frown, staring at the zebra but finally gave an equally uncharacteristic sigh. "Okie-dokie-lokie! But I'll be watching..."

The zebra mare actually laughed. "Pink pony, what do you think I'd do? Gobble you up in a big tasty stew?"

Pinkie brightened up. "Hey, that's a good line! I can use that!"

The stallions were a lot less trouble, they introduced themselves, and then Twilight looked around at the newly enlarged. Party. As Zecora slung a set of oddly shaped saddle-bags over her flanks, the purple unicorn asked, "Shall we get on then? We've still got a long way to go."

* * *

30.2

* * *

"So... let me get this straight. Twilight walked in on ya with a bunch o' duplicates of her brother?"

Chrysalis flinched. "It wasn't like I planned it. The hive took the initiative to comfort me. And we didn't do anything, you know, I know how intimate you ponies think sex is..."

Macintosh raised an eyebrow. "Ah'd say it's more then just us ponies-"

"Basically, as Changeling Queen, I'm in charge of having everyone else's eggs."

There was a quiet moment.

Finally, the stallion managed a strangled cough. "Why is it Ah'm always tha one that people explain weird sex things to?"

"Because you serve the best cider." Chrysalis held forth her mug expectantly, and he filled it without thinking. "Anyway, my point _was_ that I wasn't aching for a good rut. Frankly, I can get that anywhere, just shapeshift and flirt. But what I had with Shi-well, with _my_ Shining was more then that, and that's what the hive mind tried to mimic. It kind of worked... in the same way that sugar-free chocolate replacement stuff kind of tastes like Pinkie's best brownies. So... they decided to multiply the experience..."

Macintosh nodded. "Ah see. And that's when Twilight walked in on ya?"

"Mmmhmm." She threw back her muzzle, draining her mug in one big gulp. "I wish I got drunk easier. Half of this is going straight to my mane..."

"Well... from tha sound of it... the hive mind _was_ trying ta help ya. In its own way." The stallion shook his head. "Never really understood it mahself, but from what mah sister and her friends have told me it's something real... deep."

Chrysalis regarded him with a curious look. "How would they know?"

"Most o' them have been changelings in one loop or another. Apparently there was even one time where they all were changelings. Heck, Ah'd say tha majority of Equestrian loopers have been in tha hive, cepting mahself fer some reason. Oh, and tha nonpony loopers, like Spike or Discord."

"Wait. Discord?" The changeling queen leaned forward. "As in, primordial manifestation of Chaos Discord? He's looping? That explains so much-"

"No it don't. He was always like that."

"...oh. Huh."

"Eeyup, that was mah reaction too." Macintosh shrugged. "Anyway, what Ah'm saying is Ah don't really get tha hive mind. Yet. Ah'm pretty much resigned to tha fact that Ah'm going ta end up there in some loop. What's it like, exactly?"

"Didn't you just say that Twilight and her friends told you?"

"Well... they were in it fer a few loops at most. You've lived with it yer whole life. Makes sense ya'd have a different take on it."

Chrysalis nodded. "There is... an old adage. The hive serves the swarm, the swarm serves the queen, the queen serves the hive. It's... difficult to explain, but... while I have a level of control over the swarm, and I mean actual control and not just the political power that Celestia has over the nobles, the hive is something I... don't control. If a drone feels that something about what I want them to do is wrong, I can feel it no matter whether I order them to do it or not. Being a queen means you get to make all the decisions, but it also means you feel all the repercussions. Personally, I mean."

She sighed. "It's part of why... well, in my baseline loop, anyway, it was part of why I wasn't at all worried about attacking ponies. I could slap you right now and read your emotions, but... it's like the difference between reading a letter and talking to a friend, I suppose. Or maybe listening to a song instead of a speech... Something in that way. The others, they probably see the hive as more intimate, but from my view it's ponies that are less intimate. And when I was just a queen, I thought that meant you _cared_ less then changelings did, that somehow you were... broken, and it was okay for me to consider you all basically talking prey that we could capture and raise."

Macintosh realized where she was going with this, pouring more cider into her mug. "But then Shining happened."

"...Not just him. He was a big part, but that whole loop was... different. Hives were smaller, and Celestia exterminated us when she could because she believed in preemptive strikes; the other nobles went along with it because the branding magical stuff didn't work on shapeshifters. And between that and all the slaves running through the underground, I realized that just because you can't... feel each other, that doesn't mean you don't care. In fact I found that your love can sometimes go deeper, exactly because you're so alone and want to let the other one know you care." Chrysalis brought her mug to her lips... and peered at it. "See, this is what I'm talking about right here. If you were part of the hive, you would feel what I was feeling and have filled this without me asking because you knew I was becoming emotional. But you're not, and you're not even empathetic... but you know me enough to predict I needed this. How do you do that? How can you read me when you don't even speak that language? How has your race survived this long without being able to communicate on that level, and yet somehow managed to form deeper relations in that void?"

"Ah ain't no philosopher," Macintosh began slowly, "but if Ah were ta seriously consider that question... Ah'd say that it's exactly because we don't have such close understandings of each other that we strive ta form deep relations. If'n we knew what we'd each be doing all tha time, we wouldn't be driven ta understand each other."

"But... you could hurt each other. On accident, even."

"Yes... and that's part of why we try to understand."

The changeling queen sipped her cider. She still didn't quite understand... but that viewpoint would be one she would have to consider.

* * *

30.3

"Twilight," Shining Armor asked, frowning. "Is this correct?"

"Is what correct, BBBFF?" Twilight replied, still scanning over the list as she helped things get set up for the Equestria Games.

"Well, I was looking over the contestant list, and… you've only put down _three_."

Twilight craned her head to look. "Uh… yep, that's right. That's the only entrants we're sending."

"For _all_ the games?" Shining shook his head. "Twilight, I know that Ponyville is a small town, relatively speaking, but usually small towns take this as an opportunity for everypony to show off their talents. You know, have a bit of fun."

"Don't worry." Twilight shrugged. "We'll be fine."

* * *

Rainbow Dash hunched down, grinning like a loon. Her wings flared up to give her a starter's boost, and when the gate came down-

She finished, sat down on the other side of the tape, and began eating a snack carrot.

* * *

"Wait, what just happened?" the race marshal said, checking a stopwatch. "That was… did she seriously do the marathon in ten seconds flat?"

"Nine point nine three," Rainbow said, then frowned and threw her carrot away. "Man, I must be putting on weight… I'm getting slow."

* * *

Twilight ticked the first box on her checklist. "Right, that's swifter done…"

* * *

Fluttershy looked up at the high jump, wings strapped. "Er… I have to get over that?"

"Yes, you do," a helper said helpfully. "Just do your best."

"Okay." The shy pegasus crouched down, then sprang…

And just kept on going up.

* * *

Twilight ticked the second box, _higher_, as Fluttershy cleared the cross-bar. "Certainly helps if you've got literal control over the muscles in your legs… and weighing as little as _she_ does can't hurt either. Right, two down, one to go."

* * *

Applejack slammed her front hooves on the arena floor. "An' who else is after a go at me?"

All the other competitors looked at her. Then they looked at the huge pegasus embedded in a wall.

"None of y'all? Aww, that ain't fair on me…"

* * *

"Twilight, that was a terrible thing you did there," Celestia admonished, covering her mouth to hide a smile.

"I know, I know…" Twilight shrugged, passing over the scroll with _stronger_ ticked next to the other two. "Normally we sit them out, but I felt like they needed a go at least once. Especially Fluttershy."

"True, she's not exactly the most confident of ponies…" the Princess allowed, accepting the scroll. "Strange how much ponies stay the same, in the loops."

"I think it's because she actually _likes_ being shy, you know…" Twilight ventured. "It's a part of how she is, and it makes her more sure she's not going to offend anypony. And she hates to offend…"

"Most insightful," Celestia said, nodding to Twilight. "Well, do congratulate your friends. And I might well award copper medals this Games, because otherwise it's just going to not be fair on the ponies who _would_ have been third place."

"I'm wondering how we're going to get Dash home, actually," Twilight confided. "That many medals might actually impede her takeoff."

* * *

30.4 (Elmagnifico)

* * *

Macintosh sighed as he trotted through Ponyville, the day's load of apples for market creaking along behind him. It was just after the start of a fresh reunion, and the denizens were just starting to get back to normal after the Summer Sun Celebration. Thus far, no-one had disturbed his routine. None of his sisters were Awake, and nothing remarkable had happened. He'd delivered the apple to the library on schedule. Nightmare Moon had been vanquished with a zebra potion, two pry bars and several metric tons of fruitcake. A slow day outside the bar, a good sign for the loop.

Spike waved to him as he passed by on his way to Celestia-knew-where. The little drake was friendly enough, in fact the two of them were pretty close to brothers-in-arms, being the only male Loopers aside from Twilight's brother, who was a decent stallion too. Overall, a good friend, and seeing as how he was Awake, not in need of Mac's immediate attention. He was confident Spike could handle whatever the loops threw and if he needed assistance with something the others couldn't help with, he'd seek Mac out. Even his ability to turn into a ten-story powerhouse hardly made Mac twitch anymore.

It hadn't always been that way though.

When he'd first been introduced to the community of Loopers, he'd seen big things. The most obvious, of course, being the extra parts each of Applejack's friends were able to sprout at will. Others included subspace pockets, glowing swords, hornless telekinesis and underground bases with flying machines and fusion reactors. So many things were different among the Loopers.

Applebloom jumped off the cart and trotted away, as the way to school diverged from the route to market. She shouted a goodbye over her shoulder as Mac watched her, frowning in thought but paused to wave in case she looked back. Oftentimes the bullying on that front was solved in as simple a way as having a conversation with Filthy Rich, although it'd taken a few attempts to get the phrasing right so that Diamond Tiara would be chastised. Being too direct with the well-to-do pony didn't get anywhere.

At first, the Loopers had presented a problem. Applejack's friends were important ponies, helping them helped all of Equestria, not only because they were Elements of Harmony, but because helping them headed off a lot of the larger problems around Ponyville during the loop. So, over the course of his Loops he'd gotten to know them rather well, helping each with their issues and getting it down to the point where, all other things being equal, Ponyville stayed rather quiet after the initial Nightmare Night bump.

Rainbow Dash zoomed overhead, her contrail reminding Macintosh he needed to get in touch with her soon. Now that the Celebration was over, she'd be more obsessed with the Wonderbolts than ever. It would take a while to establish contact, and most of his help would be second or third-hoof. He really never came into contact with her unless something went drastically wrong, usually with one of her manoeuvres, either sending her crashing into something on the Acres, or himself.

Naturally, each change he'd made had altered how things played out, which meant new issues would crop up from the fresh circumstances. Over time he'd honed his perception, allowing him to preempt trouble and head off developing problems before they hurt anyone. He'd gotten especially good at reading the Elements.

He waved as he passed the unawake Rarity, doubtless on her way back to the Carousel Boutique. Her input would be needed later to alter how Applejack prepped her food stall for the Grand Galloping Gala, with fewer, more refined baked goods and the like. Blunting the unfortunate and unavoidable disappointment with Blueblood would come after.

Only now, they were completely different. He knew almost nothing about these ponies, and they'd already solved their problems their own way. Moreover, with all the horns and wings showing up, he'd had a hard time keeping up with the Loopers. Getting under their masks when they were around Ponyville was hard, as, like him, they'd be trying to blend in. When they weren't trying to keep things close to baseline, he felt left behind as the phenomenal cosmic power and strange magic started flying willy-nilly. Helping was hard when you were too busy dodging disintegration spells to watch anyone else.

Fluttershy meeped in surprise as he left her a smile. He often wound up spending a disproportionate amount of time around her, as preempting the parasprites was easier said than done. She was a delicate case indeed, as increasing her confidence without doing the same harm as that Minotaur was a balancing act that left almost no margin for error.

It wasn't until Applejack awoke one loop and stayed in her bed, fitfully dreaming, through the whole Reunion, only to proceed down to the cellar and drink their entire stock of her namesake, along with the rest of the alcohol, that Mac found his place in the Loops. Being the queen of the Changelings had rattled his sister fiercely, and left her needing family and counselling, in that order. Twilight had been eager to assist Mac with his sister, and together they'd helped her cope.

He responded to Time Turner's query about Applejack's recovery with an "Eeyup." The Celebration usually left his sister fatigued, both physically and mentally, even if the Elements weren't used to defeat Nightmare Moon. Having a Goddess of the Night dropped on the town tended to have that effect. Applejack hated being useless, and now she was taking it relatively easy at the Acres, just a few light chores. Of course, that meant he had to pick up the slack, but by now he knew just how much he could push himself before getting injured.

It was during that session of post-hive-mind therapy that Macintosh realized these ponies needed his help just as much as their non-looping selves did. Of course, chasing them around to watch them and try to preempt problems was a fruitless dream. He simply didn't Loop enough for that. There was too much separation for him to help the Anchor and her friends the way he did Ponyville.

He returned Cherilee's smile as usual. He normally kept his distance from the schoolmarm at first, although he did have to watch his beverages in February. That particular thread usually resolved itself with subtle changes in how he acted around Applebloom, with hints he was interested in this mare or that one, nothing blatant or false, but enough to keep him off the "eligible bachelors" list. Getting Cherilee to change the timing of the field trip until one of the Crusader's less chaotic periods was the real challenge.

So, he'd started a bar. Alcohol still held its allure even for Loopers, and Apples knew how to brew the best stuff. Moreover, its presence relaxed most ponies, allowing him to see under the barriers they had erected to keep out the strife and erosion of time. It also allowed them to come and seek him out if they needed help or guidance, even if initiating therapy was often disguised, or rationalized, as a request for booze.

He passed Lily and her friends, which brought Zecora to mind. That, at least, was as simple as helping Applejack see through the rumours and hearsay surrounding the zebra. After her sense of truth was applied properly to the situation, his sister handled that well enough by herself.

Nevertheless, the bar was a small thing. Everything had to be available at loop's start in case of an emergency, so he kept the furnishings to a minimum. After all, he'd only made it a public establishment in three especially crowded loops, after which he'd decided it was better to keep things simple. The Apple cellar served just as well as an above-ground building for Looper purposes. Wooden furniture was simple and common, but also relaxing, homely and unassuming. A stone fireplace made the place cozy and required minimal modification of the basement, aside from the ventilation. Overall, it reminded him of the small pubs he'd seen the one time the Loops had moved Ponyville to the Northern Dales, albeit with a more varied selection on tap.

He halted as Berry Punch teetered across the street in front of him, thoroughly sloshed as per normal. No helping that, unfortunately.

Most loops the emergency stock of Hard Cider was enough to tide over thirsty patrons until he could start brewing for larger crowds, although there were a couple barrels and microbrews he asked Twilight to keep in her subspace pocket and drop off at her earliest convenience whenever he was Awake. He was saving those for a special occasion.

He noted the extra spring in Pinkie Pie's step as she passed him on the way to Sugarcube Corner. Looper or not, he wasn't sure. Maybe she was just happy because of the baked-goods manner in which the Alicorn of the Night had been defeated. He could never be sure with her.

The pink mare had always been an enigma to him, in some ways worse than Ms. Sparkle because she stood up to close scrutiny and remained just as unfathomable whether she was looping or not. He could tell the difference, it just didn't help any in predicting her. Distracting her on her birthday had been easy enough. Physically bumping into her, apologizing and then helping her with some baking seemed enough, although her sheer variability meant nothing was certain.

Nevertheless, she proved an ally more often than not. After all, their missions were similar. Indeed, oftentimes there was little that would help ponies more than a smile or a good laugh, and that was something Pinkie Pie excelled at giving. Conversely, Mac was always happy to cater or host a party. Stress relief and games were a good way to blow off steam, and it lightened his workload when he didn't have to pour every drink himself.

He was almost to the market when he spotted Twilight Sparkle a little ways off, conversing with a pegasus he didn't recognize. Spike and a small black dragon were behind them, apparently comparing notes of some sort. They all waved, and Twilight looked like she was moving to intercept, so he'd likely be introduced to these newcomers. A fused loop?

Mac gave the oncoming party a welcoming smile and mentally sighed as he bid any hopes of a quiet loop goodbye.

* * *

30.5 (Masterweaver)

* * *

"...so why isn't Silver looping?"

Apple Bloom gave Diamond Tiara a look as she drove in the next piton. "Yer asking this _now?_"

"Would you rather I whine about how hard this is?" the purple filly countered, panting as she attempted to reach another hoofhold. "Cause, you know, I could do that if you like."

"Heh. Point." Bloom stretched, barely managing to grab an outcropping of rock. "But that was only a five."

Tiara snorted. "Oh darn."

"Right, so... ya know how Twilight's tha anchor?"

"Yeah?" The purple filly pushed herself up. "That means she loops all the time, right?"

"Well, yeah. More important, though, that means all tha looping... loopiness, Ah guess, flows from her. And if thar's enough loopiness, thar's a new looper. Ah think."

"You're not sure?"

Apple Bloom pulled another piton out of her backpack. "Well, Ah'm trying ta explain something that Twilight told me with all tha technobabble she explained. It might be that it's looseness in tha memory network of our reality or somethang... she has holographic diagrams, Ah'm simplifying."

Diamond Tiara's back hoof slipped off. "AAA! Ah, sorry, I'm okay, I'm fine." She panted as she recovered her footing. "Alright, so... Twilight's the center of looping. Got that. And things get loopier over time...?"

"Tha thing is, tha loopiness travels along... channels made by deep emotional impact. So, it went from her ta her friends first. Then it went from her to tha princesses. Then it went from her, through Applejack and Rarity and Rainbow Dash, to tha Crusaders..."

"Ah." The rich filly nodded to herself. "I'm beginning to see the pattern. Friends first?"

"Friends, family... and some pretty personal enemies." The farm filly nodded at her piton, pulling herself up. "Like Chrysalis, actually."

"Wait, Chrysalis? As in the Changeling Queen? She's looping?"

"Eeyup. Took her a while, but tha fact is she did leave a deep emotional impact on Twilight in tha baseline, so all Twilight had ta do was focus on her a bit more. Ah hate ta say it but, well, tha reason ya probably started looping is cause ya bullied us so intensely. Silver Spoon was always just following yer lead, so we didn't care that much about her. She's got a deeper channel ta you, o' course, but by tha time tha loopiness reaches ya-"

"I'm too far out from the center."

"Well, yeah. Fer now anyway." Apple Bloom shrugged. "Could be she gets in, eventually. Heck, if ya like, me and tha other crusaders could try ta be her friends fer tha next few loops, it would give her a better chance of waking up... Ah think. Ah'm not sure."

Diamond Tiara considered it. "I... don't want to force you to do anything you don't want to, but... well, she was my first friend. If you would try, that would mean a lot to me..."

"Heh. Ah'll bring it up at tha next Crusader meeting. Course, Loopiness is a tad bit random. Sometimes ponies start looping when it don't make no sense."

"You mean like Nyx?"

"Well..." Apple Bloom lugged herself onto a ledge and pulled Diamond Tiara up. "She's one example, yeah, but Ah was thinking more like Berry Punch."

The rich filly blinked. "Wait, Berry Punch? The town drunk? She's looping?"

"Yeah, once or twice. Doesn't make sense ta me either. By all rights Granny Smith shoulda been looping by now, and Berry oughta have been further out. Still... ya get what ya get, Ah guess. And it's not like it's anything as consistent as you or me anyway..."

* * *

AN:

Unusually productive week, this...

30.1: This is one long running serial.  
30.2: The healing effects of alcohol. (Also, that slavequestria Loop has had quite a lot of knock on effects...)  
30.3: And presumably at some point in the Games, Pinkie ended up dangling from a zipwire.  
30.4: Big Mac's how-to guide.  
30.5: ...you know, thinking back, the Loops create some _really_ bizarre situations.


End file.
